Hold Me Through
by Keleshnar
Summary: What if when Vulcan females go through Pon Farr, they not only have to mate, but they also have to conceive? ch10 up!
1. Curses

Title: Hold Me Through 

Author: Keleshnar

Rating: Pg-13 I think, for upcoming chapters.  I might change it, though.

Summary: What if when Vulcan females go through Pon Farr, they not only have to mate, but they also have to conceive?

Spoilers: minor ones for "Future Tense"

Disclaimer: What, you actually think they're mine?  I wish so, but unfortunately I'm just borrowing them from UPN and such.  I'll try to return them before the next season starts.

A/N: this idea came to me one night, and I just had to go through with it.  And thanks to Mana and Faith for beta-ing this.  

Archiving: just ask, but definitely Archer's and Endeavors

**The first stage of this story has won second place in the Endeavors/Archer's Pon Farr Contest.  **

**Thank you to all of the people who voted!!**

Stage One: The Pon Farr

Chapter 1: Curses

            It was ironic, she reflected, that one of the things that had saved her race from extinction was a curse to her now.  Thousands of centuries of Vulcan females had gone through this exact same thing, this Pon Farr.  And thousands of those females had born children – or if they couldn't, they died.  It was a very effective way of keeping the race alive and was one reason that they managed to evolve so much.  If a female couldn't breed, she died during her first Pon Farr.  If a male couldn't breed, his sterile genes weren't passed on to the next generation.

            The one thing she was glad of - no, not glad, she corrected herself, gladness was an emotion - the one thing she was fortunate didn't happen was that the chemically induced Pon Farr from that planet wasn't like the true Pon Farr, because the man she would have preferred to choose, had she needed to, wasn't available to her at that time.  Except she needed him now, or very soon.  She only hoped, for once in her life, that Humans and Vulcans could produce a child, because she did not want to die.

Her mind registered that hope was also an emotion, but she let it slide this time, knowing she was more prone to emotions in her present state.  As she sat on the floor in her cabin in her nightclothes, T'Pol tried to meditate yet again.  What little the meditation had accomplished earlier was quickly slipping away.

When she had first felt the symptoms of Pon Farr - less control, more emotion – she went to visit Dr. Phlox.  The chemically induced Pon Farr evidently had altered her cycle, because it was still too early for her to be going through this, but not dangerously early.  When she had told the doctor that, she had almost laughed - it certainly was dangerous, but for a different reason.  After that near outburst, she had resolved to meditate much more, and it had also struck her how serious her condition was for the first time.

The doctor had not heard of the second, yet very important, part of female Pon Farr, which didn't surprise T'Pol - it was one of the many things that Vulcans kept to themselves (the first part being mate or die).  She had had to inform him of the 'how and why' about this particular aspect of the Vulcan mating ritual.  She had told him, "It has been a key evolutionary aspect – during the first Pon Farr of a females life, she has to conceive a child in approximately two weeks or she dies.  Obviously, this keeps the Vulcan race alive," she had paused uncomfortably after this part, because she knew that Phlox had every right and need to know more about it, but it was private, "If by the end of the first week a woman has not conceived, a doctor tries the equivalent of an in vitro fertilization and other techniques until either she is pregnant or dead.  After the first Pon Farr, women don't necessarily have to become pregnant, but many still do for three or so cycles more."

Dr. Phlox had then asked why some Vulcans still didn't have children, and she had replied, "If a woman and her bondmate do not wish to keep the child, it is aborted, but usually only for special reasons."

Unfortunately, Phlox had caught the part about a bondmate, and gave her a look that showed he understood.  She looked down to hide her feelings that were surfacing. She knew that he had figured out that she had foregone the bonding ritual to stay on Enterprise, and if she hadn't, there would be no problem now.  Dr. Phlox had given her orders to stay in her cabin for the next two days, thinking the rest would help her, and possibly give her time to find a solution before the Pon Farr gave her its own solution.

So that was where she was now, cursing her Vulcan inheritance.  She knew that she'd have to do something soon because she could feel the full heat starting to kick in.

When the dead time traveler had been found to have many species' DNA, including Vulcan and Human, T'Pol had dismissed the thought immediately as irrational, even though the evidence was right there in front of her.  She realized that she might have to start believing in time travel very soon.  She blew out her meditation candle, placed it on its shelf and climbed into her bunk to get some rest.  As she quieted down her emotions and started to drift to sleep she hoped that she would find out whether Human and Vulcan children would have pointed ears.

Cont…

A/N: Well? Huh? I'm waiting! What do you think? REVIEW! Please, review and make an author happy.          

Kee


	2. Changes

Hold Me Through 

By Keleshnar

Rating : PG-13

Spoilers: mild references to "The Expanse"

Disclaimer: I still don't own them and I'm still not making any money from this.  Although if you want to pay me…

A/N: Mana and Faith are all-mighty betas.  Even though I'm not going to beg as hard this time, still please review!  ~~And this should answer your questions about the pairing…~~

Chapter 2: Changes

            Phlox was worried.  For once, he had no power at all over a patient's condition.  When T'pol had come to him for help, there was nothing he could do but give her a mild sedative and give her cabin leave for a few days.  He hoped that she would act soon and that it would work because he didn't want to lose a friend and fellow alien onboard the Human ship.

            He had, as demanded by protocol, told the Captain about T'pol's need for a medical 'leave of absence', but had left out the specifics of why.  He had only said that T'pol had come down with a flu that could become troublesome if it spread around the ship.  Of course Archer had granted T'pol the leave without question; he trusted his doctor fully.  Phlox was slightly worried, however, about how closely Captain Archer might try to 'monitor' T'pol's condition – he didn't want anything to happen that someone regretted.

*          *          *          *          *

            Jonathan Archer looked at the chronometer next to his computer – 17:34.  The Beta Shift was on, and he didn't have anything to do.  Actually, there was plenty for him to do, but he really wasn't in the mood to do paperwork.  He went through the PADDs on his desk, scattering them around and making a mess.  He got to one particular PADD and started to read – it was another of Lt. Malcolm Reed's request to improve security, which the Lieutenant had started to file again since they had been in the Delphic region.  The requests were quite validated, and Archer put a 'note to self' in his head to fully read them over later. '_Yes, definitely later'_ he thought.  

            As Jon leaned back in his chair, his mind flitted to T'Pol, '_I wonder how she's doing with that flu?"_  To find out his answer, he keyed in T'Pol's code into the comm on the side of the wall

            "Archer to T'Pol**.**" If he had known that his actions could have impacted her so significantly, he probably would not have commed her.

            "T'Pol here**.**" she responded warily.  Jon was surprised to hear the emotion in her voice, but dismissed it as an effect of the comm.

            "Uh, I was just calling to see how your flu's coming along.  So how're you feeling?" At this question, T'Pol hesitated in responding.  For once, she didn't even think of telling him 'Vulcans don't feel.'  She couldn't tell the whole truth to him, but she didn't want to downright lie.

            "Tired," she finally responded.  _'Tired of the emotions, tired of the constant worrying, tired of the loss of control…'_ she added on in her mind.

            "Sorry to disturb your sick leave, but have you had a chance to look at the scans I sent you?" They had been orbiting a class M planet and Ensign Lear had taken scans of the atmosphere and geography.  It had been weird not having T'Pol at her station for the past two days – he actually had to tell the Ensign that had taken her place to do specific scans as opposed to them already being done when he thought to ask, as they would have been with T'Pol.  He had missed her reassuring presence, surprisingly enough.

            "Yes, I glanced at them.  Quite a funny contrast." '_Glanced, funny?  Am I talking to T'Pol?'_ Jon thought, 'M_aybe what I heard before wasn't the comms…'_

            "Um, sure.  Hope you feel better soon.  Archer out."  

            As the comm cut off, T'Pol had two things in her mind – feeling better and the planet.  She hoped she would get well soon also, though it was a little more complicated than he though.  In the last day, her symptoms had progressed to the point where she would be hard pressed to control herself around any male that she was even slightly attracted to.  This sentiment made her worry what would happen if she was 'checked up on' by Jonathan, no – the Captain, she corrected herself.  She did not call him Jonathan often, and the unconscious use of it now worried her even more.  

            Thinking about the scans of the planet, T'Pol picked up the PADD that she had transferred the information to.  With the light in her room turned down almost all the way, the light from the screen cast her face in an eerie glow.  It was a planet with high temperatures, and the environments were primarily rainforests and deserts.  The contradiction made it an interesting phenomenon.  While half of the planet was dry and harsh, the other half was steamy and teeming with life and energy.  It was almost like having Vulcan, Risa, and parts of Earth all rolled into the same planet.

*          *          *          *          *

            "Beep!" 

The door panel roused her from her thoughts.  She knew that it would be Phlox with food, since he was the only one allowed near her while she was sick with the 'flu' that was, quoting Phlox, "Possibly highly contagious for humans."  The thought of food made her stomach gurgle loudly as she opened up her door, the bright light from the corridor blinding her eyes for a second.  She immediately took the dished meal from Phlox without a word of greeting or thanks and dug right in with her hands.

"Good afternoon to you too, Sub-Commander.  I see that your Pon Farr is progressing normally.  I'll come get the dishes in a half an hour and give you your sedative to help with the symptoms."  With that, Dr. Phlox left the newly savage Vulcan to her meal.

*          *          *          *          *

When the door chimed again twenty minutes after T'Pol had gotten her food, she answered it, but was surprised at the timing – the Doctor was usually punctual.  When the Captain stood there holding a hypospray instead of Dr. Phlox, there wasn't time for the emotion of alarm to register within her before the desire pushed it away.  Jon was startled in the change in her eyes and demeanor and took a step back, but then his own instincts kicked in and he was drawn to her, the undelivered hypospray dropping from his hand.  

As the door slid shut behind them, the two officers crashed onto the small bunk, their lips finding each other in a searing kiss.  After they both came up gasping for air, Jon stood up as if realizing where he was and looked around, his eyes landing on T'Pol.  She was sitting on the bunk, staring up at him, the passion in her eyes smoldering and uninhibited.  Jon looked into her eyes and said rhetorically, "I'm guessing you don't actually have the flu."

In one fluid motion, T'Pol stood up in front of him, their bodies a mere inch apart.  They could both feel the heat radiating from each other, and Jon suddenly felt all of his blood go southward.  They both watched as T'Pol reached out to Jon, almost in slow motion, trying hard to control herself long enough to explain the circumstances somewhat.  When she had seen him in her doorway, she had finally accepted in her mind what she had been feeling for longer than she wanted to admit - there was only man who would do.  Still, she would not be able to live with herself if she pulled him in without him first realizing the circumstances and accepting them.  She knew he wanted this also; she had noticed the signs of it - mostly because she was doing the same things.  "The Pon Farr…" she managed to get out before she succumbed to her desire to touch him.  Jon had heard of that term somewhere, but the details escaped his highly distracted mind at the moment.

They were both momentarily shocked by the electricity of their first touch.  Then her hands roved over his body – his hair, his neck, his back, his buttocks – sending sparks all through him.  He kissed her on her mouth, then moved up her cheekbone to her ear tips, down her neck and along her collarbone.   T'Pol began to shudder from all of the wonderful bombardments on her senses as she ran her hand through the nape of his hair.  As she began to pull both of them down on her bunk once again, she whispered, "Help me."  They tumbled onto the bed and began to tear off their clothes, the Vulcan's desire fueling the Human's.  In those few precious moments, their relationship had changed forever.

*          *          *          *          *

As it turned out, the doctor had gotten caught up with new patients from a small accident in the mess hall, making it impossible for him to deliver T'Pol's hypospray.  When Phlox expressed this conflict, Jon, who had helped to escort the injured to sick bay, took the hypospray and headed off to be helpful and give it to T'Pol before the Doctor could say another word.  Now, as Phlox finished tending his more critical patients and went on to the others, a small worry formed in the back of his head about his supposed 'slip of the tongue' about the hypospray, but he thought he had made the best choice where his patient was concerned.

He remembered his conversation with T'Pol after the Captain had called to ask how she was.  She had mentioned that she was worried that word might get out, but mostly what to do because she could feel the symptoms progress.  He had immediately sensed from her body language that Archer heightened her heat and would definitely be the best choice because of their mutual feelings, which the Doctor had seen growing in the two years that they'd known each other.  She was oblivious to these feelings except in her subconscious, though Jon had realized them for a while.  He had kept them at bay for fear of both the general reaction and his work morals.  They worked well together, trusted each other, and usually wholly supported one another.  With these reassurances in mind, he shifted his focus back onto his patients, not even thinking of the two now lovers drifting off to sleep.

Cont…


	3. The Conversation

Hold Me Through 

By Keleshnar

Disclaimer: Have you paid me yet? No? Aww! Well then I guess I'm still not making any money off this story.  

Spoilers: references to events and scenes in "Future Tense"

A/N: Betas are good (thank you Mana, Kat).  And In case anyone hasn't figured out yet (*cough* read chapter two!), this story has an Archer/T'Pol pairing.  If you don't think that it should be this pairing, I guess you could replace Jon with another name (or T'Pol, for that matter) in your mind.  Oh, and please review!  It's very helpful when people tell me what they think, especially if you say you either liked a section or thought something should have been better (and please tell me if you find any comma errors – this chapter didn't really like me too much, I think, with all of the dialogue).  Thanks!

Chapter 3: The Conversation

            T'Pol awoke on her side, Jonathan's arm draped over her, his hand cradling her flat stomach.  This action made her realize that by the next week, her flat stomach would either be on its way to becoming round or it wouldn't exist at all.  She hoped that the two of them would be able to be in this pose again when she was pregnant.  Of course, that thought was immediately revoked as 'illogical', but it still was filed away in her memory.  She was finding that she liked the idea of having a child more, especially in moments like this.  

            T'Pol felt more like her old self now, since the hormones had leveled off for the time being with their first release.  She didn't want to move too much and wake Jonathan, who was sleeping peacefully, unaware of her partial internal struggle.  Now that they had mated the first time, she wanted to continue with him, rather than another crewmember.  That wasn't the only reason she wanted him, but it would still keep things simpler.  But she wasn't sure how he'd react to being told that he was needed as her mate for the rest of his life.  It could go either really well or really badly, T'Pol mused, but not very far in the middle.  She was almost positive that she would need some hormone therapy or something similar from Phlox to be able to conceive, and she wanted Jonathan to be there with her and for her.

            Jon started to wake up slightly, and when he realized where he was – and the fact that he hadn't been kicked out yet – he figured that things might actually work out after last night.  He recognized that he and the Sub-Commander would not be able to go back to what they had before yesterday, but he wasn't sure he wanted to.  He reached his head forward and nuzzled T'Pol's neck and soft hair with his nose.  This action made her shiver involuntarily, and he pulled her closer as a natural reaction, making her shiver again.

            They just lay there, a peaceful couple for now, enjoying the warmth of each others bodies before the inevitable came – the conversation.  T'Pol moved first, turning from one side to the other so that she now faced Jonathan and not the rest of her quarters.  T'Pol gazed deeply into Jon's eyes, and he tried very hard to convey lots of caring, honesty, and trust through to her.  It worked, because she found the strength to speak.

            "Jonathan…" she started, and Jon waited for her to go on, "I am sorry that I could not fully explain the circumstances last night."  This sounded a lot like her saying she was sorry their encounter happened, but she wasn't running away, not yet, and Jon hoped to keep it that way.  He sensed that she was having conflicting feelings where one side of her wanted to run away and pretend nothing ever happened, and the other side wanted to embrace their new relationship fully and publicly.  Actually, she had decided on somewhere in between – to continue the relationship outside of duty and to let others, as well as themselves, adjust gradually.  With this newfound decision, T'Pol realized what she needed to tell Jonathan – the whole truth, and what she hoped to come out of it.

            Before she went on, she sat up, her legs hanging off the side of the bed facing her bathroom, and motioned for Jon to do the same, "This may not make sense until you have heard the full explanation, so please do not interrupt me," and with a final pause and breath, she began,

            "When you were kidnapped by Skalaar, I did not pick up a virus from the planet like the medical report said," Jon remembered reading it; Trip and Malcolm had said that the virus had affected T'Pol very strangely, "The what you would call a 'bug' I did pick up, though, falsely and chemically induced the Vulcan mating cycle of Pon Farr.  Do you know what Pon Farr is, Jonathan?"

            Her use of his first name, multiple times, pleased him very much, since he'd been trying to convince her to call him that when off-duty.  But also, the term 'Pon Farr' rang a bell in his head, and he remembered the night before, when she'd uttered the term, but he hadn't been able to place it with its definition.  He did not have that problem now, however, and remembered the little he knew about it, "Yes, vaguely.  It's, like you said, the Vulcan mating cycle that all… sexually mature Vulcans go through every once in a while." She was surprised of his knowledge – most humans had never even heard of it – but didn't show it.

            "You are correct.  Vulcans go through it every seven years.  For the males it usually only takes three or four releases to 'get over' it, for females it can take that long or longer.  The chemicals must have had prolonged effects, because I have prematurely entered Pon Farr."  At this point she paused, stood up, and put on her discarded pajamas.  Jon felt somewhat embarrassed about watching her, so he looked away after a minute, picked up, and put on his Starfleet issue blue boxers.  After she was through, T'Pol stood there, mimicking their positions the night before, only they'd switched places, "Pon Farr is deadly if the hormones are not released… sexually," At this, Jon's eyes got wider. "Normally, one's bond mate is the obvious partner of choice, but since I'm on Enterprise and I don't have one… I needed to copulate with a human.  I was expecting Dr. Phlox when you came instead – he was going to pick up my old dinner tray."  She pointed to the dished on a tray, still in a corner on the floor.

            "I would not have opened the door otherwise.  Now, though, I am relieved that you were there so I did not have to go through the awkward process of choosing – and I probably would have chosen you anyway." She paused again, partially embarrassed at admitting that rather personal fact – she almost mumbled the last sentence, and she'd rushed through saying it.  She still was, illogically, she noted, avoiding the second part about her Pon Farr.

            Jon took this pause as a place for him to speak, "You seem more, well, normal now than you did last night."  He was still partially shocked about the 'must mate or die' portion, and would be more shocked soon, but he was just pondering it in his head, since there wasn't really anything else to say about it.  He was thrilled, though, that she had accepted him – and vocally expressed that she had and would probably again, if the need arose.  Now that she'd admitted it, he could also finally admit to himself that he'd wanted her for a while now.

            "I will become more irrational again as the hormones become more unbalanced.  Jonathan - " there was an urgency in her voice, like she needed to tell him something, "My Pon Farr might be longer this cycle.  The reason females can have longer Pon Farr is because for the first cycle, and a few after the first, we also have to become pregnant.  It is my first Pon Farr.  It is slowed by sexual encounters, but if I do not conceive in the next nine days, I will die.  The hormones build up, and at a certain point they overload the brain and cause its functions to cease."  Telling of her possible painful demise was nauseating to T'Pol, but she still stood there, staring into Jon's hazel eyes, willing him to understand the direness of her situation and to come to a decision, hopefully the one that would be easier on her, and the one she would prefer.

            As they were locked into their reverie, the door chime rang.  They both reluctantly tore their gazes away from each other, to the door, and back.  T'Pol knew it would only be the Doctor, and went to the access panel to open up the door while Jon went and hid under her covers so Phlox wouldn't see him.  It was a very human and illogical thing to do, T'Pol thought, since the Doctor firstly wouldn't object to Jon's being there, and secondly would be able to tell anyway if he was or had been there by her state.  Even so, she still saw why he did it – if she was in his position, she probably would have done the same thing out of the embarrassment of being caught, though she immediately attributed that thought to prolonged Human exposure and the hormones.

            She opened the door, and the Doctor was indeed there, and with two trays in his hands, "Good morning, Sub-Commander.  Ah, yes, I'll trade you those used dishes for these new ones."  Phlox said as he saw the tray in the corner.  T'Pol gave him her dinner dishes, and as she took the breakfast trays and set them down, she smelled the distinctive smell of that human breakfast meat – bacon.  Yes, the Doctor definitely knew Jonathan was there.

            "How are you feeling today?" Phlox queried.

            "Better," she stated simply.  He already knew, anyway, so it wasn't any use lying about her improved condition.  Phlox spotted the unused hypospray still on the floor and picked it up, making T'Pol notice it for the first time.

            "Hmm.  You never used the hypospray, though I doubt you really needed it."  At that comment-left-hanging, T'Pol felt her ears flush.  Now the Doctor turned his attention and gaze to her bed where Jonathan was under the covers.

            "And how are you, Captain?" This query caused Jon to sheepishly rustle around and poke his head out from underneath the covers.

            "Fine, uh, thanks."  Phlox once again turned his attention to T'Pol, and asked her very seriously,

            "Did you discuss…" he said, leaving the comment open-ended, but glancing at Jon.  T'Pol was surprised, though pleasantly, when Jon replied for her,

            "I haven't left yet, have I?"  That statement basically said it all.  T'Pol was very glad that he'd chosen to stay, and so was the doctor, evidently, because he let out one of his big smiles.

            "Good.  I'll inform the bridge that 'the Captain seems to have picked up a slight flu also, and needs his rest for the next few days, and not to disturb him.'  And I'll get all of you comunicaés directed to me so I can give them to you."

            "And that Malcolm has the bridge until I get back.  Thanks, Doc."

            "Of course, of course.  Nothing at all," He actually seemed quite pleased to be participating in this 'scheme' of theirs.

            "And Doctor," T'Pol's voice stopped Phlox's movement out of her cabin.  He partially turned around to listen to her final words, "When should I, or we, perhaps, stop by to get the fertility treatments?"

            "Hmm, the time when sickbay is almost always deserted is between 0530 and 0600.  You'll have to come tomorrow.  I'll bring by your meals at regular hours," meaning he didn't want to interrupt anything – Jon felt his face flush and thought he saw T'Pol's ears do the same, "So I guess I'll just see you tomorrow morning.  Have a good day Captain, Sub-Commander."  Was it just Jon, or did that last comment seem to have a 'wink wink, nudge nudge' edge to it?  Again, he couldn't help the small flush on his cheeks that didn't seem to want to go away.  Ah, his Doctor.

*          *          *          *          *

            Jon sat next to T'Pol on her bed, both of them eating in a contented silence.  After a few minutes a part of their earlier conversation came to his mind, and he couldn't help but lightly tease her, "I thought Vulcans don't believe in interspecies breeding."

            T'Pol responded very seriously, like she'd been thinking hard about the subject, "They don't, but I have changed my view.  After all, there was proof."  She was referring to the body that had been found in the ship from the future.  Jon thought it interesting that he'd pointed out that exact fact to her then and she'd disregarded it, but then he remembered that her survival relied on his view being the correct one – that Humans and Vulcans could indeed produce offspring – and he figured she'd be willing to at least reconsider her view to survive.  The thought of her impending death gave him a mental shiver.  He also remembered something in particular that he'd said to T'Pol when they were investigating the future ship, making his views on 'them' as a couple quite clear, even if she ignored them, or at least mostly.  Afterwards, he'd tried to forget he'd actually phrased it that way.  He'd said, "So, do you think we can have children?"  He'd meant, partially, Humans and Vulcans, and he'd later clarified, embarrassed.  Jon figured that they'd find out the answer to both of those questions soon.  

            Turning towards him suddenly, T'Pol hit on an important topic, "Jonathan, if we do have a child – and I am assuming you wouldn't want an abortion – it will be a total outcast.  He or she would not fit in either Vulcan or Human societies or culture, though the child could learn about and be exposed to both cultures.  What type of life would that be?"

            "It's interesting that a Vulcan would be arguing about morality and ethics, but I see your point," Jon replied.  She was talking about her possible future child, after all.  He'd actually be even more surprised if she didn't show any feelings on that subject.  He paused a moment in thought, then continued, "And no I wouldn't like you to have an abortion, though it's ultimately your choice.  I think it's worth it to have this child, though.  First of all, it is the only way to save you, and anything is worth that." Jon decided to try to play to her strong point – logic.  T'Pol also saw his sincerity, as well as his rationality, in his words, "Second, it'd be good for the galaxy to have a human and Vulcan child – it might bring several species closer.  And third, any child that has loving and supporting parents turns out pretty well – I firmly believe that.  We'll just tackle any obstacle together, all three of us."

            "What about the crew?  Not all of them will accept this child if it is conceived.  I suspect many of the senior officers will readily accept him or her, but most of the rest of the crew might not.  Not all of them have changed their views of Vulcans the way you have." They both remembered how Jonathan had hated Vulcans most of his life, and at the beginning of Enterprise's voyage, too.

            "We'll tackle those problems together, T'Pol.  We'll tackle them together."  It was all he could say truthfully, and the couple finished their meals together in a peaceful yet laden silence.

Cont…


	4. Surprises

Hold Me Through 

By: Keleshnar

Disclaimer: Yes, yes, I don't own the show.  But I'd always appreciate a present…

Rating: a strong PG-13 for this chapter, so you have been warned.

A/N: Okay, I'm sort of making up my own comma rules as I go; whatever seems right at the time.  I never was very good with them.  So if you see something that's incorrect, please tell me.  Grammatically correct stories are good.  I'm also going to drop off the face of the earth for a few weeks, so that's why I won't be updating for a while (you'll see how evil I am at the end of this chapter).  Lastly, please review!  Make an author happy!

Chapter 4: Surprises

            They lay there on T'Pol's bed, facing each other and just holding one another, waiting for T'Pol's Pon Farr to fully kick in again.  Jon glanced over T'Pol's shoulder to the chronometer on her desk – 0913.  Dr. Phlox wouldn't be back to give them lunch for another three hours because he'd brought them their breakfast about an hour earlier.  Jon hoped that T'Pol's hormones would either speed up or slow down a lot – he didn't want to be interrupted.  As he turned his attention back to his gorgeous mate, he found her gazing at him, watching lovingly.  This sight was so beautiful to his eyes that he sighed contentedly and smiled.  His next words just popped out of his mouth, and though he wasn't surprised of them, he was surprised he said them, at least this early,

            "I think I love you, T'Pol," he knew, and so did she, that he meant it.  He'd felt that way, to a lesser degree though, for a while.

            "Love is an emotion, Jonathan," her coy response was so precisely that – her – that it made him chuckle, and in response, she almost half-smiled.  It was a start, and all that he expected of her at this time.  She was even newer to this kind of thing than he was, and he gave her the benefit of the doubt – she _had_ chosen and accepted him, after all.  That counted for something.

            He leaned forward and kissed her eyes in a loving, comforting way.  He then turned to her ears and began to lightly nibble up their sides until he was at their distinctive point.  She almost felt euphoric.

            "Jonathan… Oh, that is nice!" he had totally changed her train of thought with his kisses and caresses, moving from her face down her neck, and below.  Once she momentarily regained some thought processes, though the logical side of her was quickly being consumed by desire, she decided to take some lead, and she pressed her body into a few certain places quite expertly, eliciting a low groan from him, and began to work her lips on his skin too.  The loving gestures soon turned much more heated, and T'Pol felt her heat rise significantly inside her – it wouldn't be long now.  She gripped his shoulders and slid her hands down his chest and stomach, fingers splayed.  Jon got the idea pretty quickly.  As their last remnants of clothing, which had been impeding their pursuits a few minutes earlier, again littered the floor, they started their own little 'dance'.  Lips claimed lips, tongues teased each other, while hands gripped and explored.  One last breathless, hot kiss, and T'Pol found Jonathan's eyes, signaling it was time.  Her eyes were ablaze with desire and her hands' pace turned frantic on his body.  As he entered her, they both felt the first pangs of bliss.  They were moving to a rhythm all their own.  The beat of the 'dance' multiplied, and they came crashing down after their climaxes.  Neither of them would notice this till later, but a bond had been formed – more than the already strong physical bond, it was a mental bond.  Not incredibly strong, but definitely there.

*          *          *          *          *

            T'Pol awoke first again, but this time the couple was tangled in a mess of limbs – theirs, of course.  They had already gotten lunch, eaten it, and dozed off in each other's arms afterwards.  Luckily Phlox hadn't commented on their state when he gave them their meal and picked up their breakfast trays; he'd just left very quickly.  She was sure it saved quite a bit of embarrassment on all three sides.  She began to feel Jonathan waken and turned towards him, reclaiming an arm and a leg from where he had been holding one and sleeping on the other.  

            "'Morning… No, 'afternoon," Jon yawned obviously, stretched, and sniffed the air, then under his armpits, "I think I _definitely_ need a shower.  So if you'll excuse me…" T'Pol was **_not_** about to get in his way – the nasal inhibitors only did so much.  She was sure she could use a shower also, but since Jonathan was going first, she decided that she'd use the time to meditate, which hadn't been done for a half a week, and she felt it.  So as Jonathan walked into her bathroom, still stretching, and shut the door, she got her meditation candle out, lit it, and sat down on the floor in the lotus position.  She heard the water start to run as she began to relax her mind.  Then, suddenly, she was snapped out of her reverie by a hot, almost burning sensation.  At the same time, she heard Jon's "Yeow!!" and could almost feel his pain, annoyance, and anger, as well as hearing a few choice words of his.  

            As her mind registered what happened, she though, '_that was unusual,' but dismissed the thought and turned her mind once again to meditating.  She still could not totally slip into her normal mindset, but her condition was definitely improving because she could focus much easier.  T'Pol felt the candle's warmth, the mesmerizing glow, the peacefulness associated with meditating, and she became calm._

            In the shower, Jon began to relax under the warm water.  As he was soaping up his chest and arms, he stopped and closed his eyes, letting the water wash the bubbles off.  He felt very awake and alert.

            '_I know warm showers are really good at waking you up, but this is ridiculous!' he thought.  Something was a little off, and it was bugging him.  He finished up in the shower and got out, contemplating the mystery while he was drying off.  _

When he was shaving, he felt oddly surprised, though there was nothing to be surprised about, and then got a jolt of it from somewhere, making him nick himself a little.  He grimaced at the unexpected pain and went to clean the cut, again wondering what was happening.

T'Pol had been deep in her meditating when she started to look inward, to reflect upon how she'd reacted to her Pon Farr so far.  As she was over viewing her recent actions, she found that there was a part of her that she had never seen before.  T'Pol was very surprised and doubtful that she had missed this part of herself all of her life, so she figured logically that it had to be new.  She tried to explore it deeper, and what she found was startling – feelings that were similar to her own, but not hers.  All at once, it clicked into place, and her eyes opened wide at the realization.  Immediately afterwards, she felt a sliver of pain.  This time, though, it easily fit in to place and supported her previous conclusion – she and Jonathan had bonded.  She was surprised that the two different species were capable of it, but it was noticeably weaker than the Vulcan bonds described to her.  Once she found it, however, she felt much more complete.  She needed to discuss the bond and its ramifications with Jonathan when he got out of the shower.  As if on cue, Jon stepped out of the bathroom, gingerly rubbing the cut spot on his face with his hand.  He had an annoyed scowl on his face, and she realized what the last pain she felt was from.  She thought that if she was a human, the situation might almost be humorous.  As it was, she blew out and put away her candle and sat down on her bed again, disregarding her need for a shower for the time being.  

As she sat down, Jon could see that she had something to tell him.  Maybe it would explain all of the weird things he was feeling.  He wryly noted to himself that her bunk was becoming their regular meeting place to discuss topics.

"Jonathan, something happened when we made love.  I have just recently discovered it, and I know that you have felt it also.  A mental bond was formed between us.  It is why we have been sharing emotions."

"You mean, those things I felt were you?"

"Yes.  Or rather, my feelings," And after that she sent him the equivalent of a humorous 'tsk tsk', predicting what his next response would be.  He smiled – she'd guessed right.  He was going to say 'I thought that Vulcans didn't have feelings', but instead responded,

"Are you sure you can't sense thoughts, too?" it was a joke, and she took it as such, not responding to that query.

"I will probably be able to sense more from you than you will be able to from me because I am more acquainted with mental bonds, and I can also put up mental shields."

"How much weaker is our bond than most Vulcan pairs'?"

"A reasonable amount, I think.  It might grow with time though, since we'll get more used to each other.  And the 'pairs' are called bondmates."

"Which is what we are now, isn't it?" T'pol just nodded in response.

"Being bondmates also means that we will mate for life.  There is really no choice in the matter now."

Jon responded with lots of sincerity in his voice, "I wasn't planning on leaving anyway.  God, T'Pol, you don't know how long I've wanted this!" He would find out the full, yet unexpected, meaning of his statement in the morning.

*          *          *          *          *

            The door comm. beeped, disturbing Jon and T'Pol from their work, which they had resumed to pass the time.  Jon had been working at T'Pol's computer, and she was on her couch with a PADD.  T'Pol had been feeling better and hadn't needed any more releases since the last one, so they had decided to catch up on work.

            Jon went to answer the door since he was closer, and was greeted cheerfully by the doctor.  Jon suspected part of the cheerfulness was finding them in clothes and not without them. "Hello, Doctor."

            "Ah, yes.  Hello.  Is everyone feeling fine?" Phlox asked while he exchanged dishes with T'Pol, who had walked to the door.

            "Yes, Doctor.  The hormones have been more under control recently."

            "Good, good.  Oh, and Sub-Commander – Hoshi Sato sends her greetings and hopes you get better soon."

            "Hey, why didn't she say 'hi' to me, too?" Jon asked incredulously.  He was especially surprised that it was Hoshi who didn't acknowledge him.

            T'Pol was wondering the same thing also, until she realized the answer, which Dr. Phlox said.

            "Ensign Sato would have no way of knowing you were here, Captain, or otherwise I'm sure she would have sent her wishes your way, too.  I did specifically say I was bringing T'Pol her meal.  I was rather glad she didn't ask why I had two dishes instead of one.  That could have become a sticky predicament."

            "Oh, yeah. I knew that.  Still, that was nice of Hoshi." T'Pol agreed with Jon's last comment.  She and the Ensign had grown closer over the past year, and T'Pol found it comforting to have a female friend onboard.  She was quite a wealth of information, and it was always nice to talk to someone friendly in Vulcan.  She would have to thank the woman for the kind sentiment.

            Jon's next words were a bit surprising to T'Pol – "Hey Doc, something unexpected happened – T'Pol and I bonded minds.  Surprising since we're different species, huh?" Phlox looked at T'Pol, knowing she wouldn't be fully comfortable with the sharing of such private information, but she just had a flicker of discomfort then seemed to accept it.  T'Pol did accept it; it would probably be useful if the Doctor knew, but she still sent Jonathan her feelings of mild displeasure and uncertainty, showing how she felt.  He made a mental note not to announce their bond anymore without asking her, but he had felt very excited about this newfound knowledge and wanted to share it, which she understood.

            Phlox watched their short interaction with interest.  They really were a well-suited couple – they accepted and adjusted to one another's mistakes.  The Doctor could see that Jon was more held back now, and that T'Pol was fine.  That mental bond of theirs seemed quite handy.

            "Well, I'll see you tomorrow morning.  Goodnight," The Doctor left, leaving T'Pol and Jon holding their dinners.  They were both hungry, but since they could sense the other's hunger and it added to their own, they were both starving.  Without another word, they sat down to eat and enjoyed their dinner.  Afterwards, they worked a little more, though they didn't get much done because they were experimenting with their bond.  They decided to call it a night, as Jonathan explained to T'Pol, and go to bed early.  Sleep reached them soon after one last visit from T'Pol's Pon Farr.

*          *          *          *          *

            "Good morning, Doctor," The two of them greeted Phlox when they showed up in the deserted sickbay at 0532.

            "Good morning to you, too," Phlox greeted back. "T'Pol, if you'll sit on this bio-bed here," She sat down, sniffed, and gave Phlox a questioning look, "I brought your breakfasts here so you could eat after I was done with the treatment."

            The Doctor took out his scanner just to check up on T'Pol, but he stopped once he was halfway through and scanned her again.  Jon noticed this peculiar behavior and came over to the bio-bed where they were from where he'd been sitting.  Phlox took a step back, making sure that his interpretation of the readings was correct, and then turned to the couple and said with an almost doubtful look on his face, in a wary voice,

            "T'Pol, there has been an unexpected change in your condition…"

Cont…


	5. Antidote

Hold Me Through 

By: Keleshnar

Disclaimer: I like presents.  Wouldn't you like to give me one? *cough _Enterprise_ cough* Until then, don't sue.

A/N: Here's the next chapter, after my evil cliffhanger ;) This chapter is one I wrote in sort of a hurry, so even though it's been beta'd (thanks Mana), I still think that that I could work on it a little, especially near the end.  If you have any ideas on how I could expand (yes, I know it's short, sorry) or add to this chapter, please tell me!  And also, skimming over the story so far, I believe that my writing style has changed somewhat.  I shall try to go back to the original style some more in the next chapters, and edit the previous ones some.  If you want to be very helpful, could you tell me which chapter is you favorite?  Then I could try to adjust to what the majority of the people like.  Thanks!

Chapter 5: Antidote

            '_Oh no!'_ Jon thought, '_The Pon Farr has progressed too quickly!  This can't be happening…'_ T'Pol felt his worry intensely, and was having thoughts similar to his own.  She was almost in shock; she and Jonathan were finally having a relationship, and it was going really well, '_But now the Doctor has found out that I'm not going to make it.  An 'unexpected change' as he put it.'_

            They were both at a loss for words.  Phlox saw their faces and realized that he had phrased his comment wrong, "I mean, well, something unexpected has happened.  T'Pol, have you been feeling more normal recently?"

            T'Pol just nodded, not really listening to the Doctor.  She was in her mind, cherishing what she thought were going to be her last moments with Jonathan and their link.

            Phlox grinned and made sure he had both of their attentions before he spoke again, "T'Pol, your Pon Farr should be over.  You're pregnant!"

            T'Pol could feel Jonathan's shock change qualities, and then felt his emotions go from surprise, to doubting, to hope, to pure happiness.  She thought, '_How versatile Human emotions are, even at an unhappy time,'_ then her mind did a double take.  It was the Vulcan equivalent of 'Wait a second– what did he just say?!'

            "Pregnant??" she almost whispered, finally looking up at Jonathan and Phlox.  But how?  Wouldn't conception only be possible with the Doctor's help?  Evidently not.  They had found the antidote to her curse on their own.  It did make sense, though.  She had been feeling better since after yesterday afternoon, when she had first noticed their bond.  The child had probably been conceived when the link had been formed, or vise versa.  She was going to be alright.  Relief flooded through her, and she felt reassurance from Jonathan, as well as an overwhelming amount of joy, which she was beginning to return.  When Jon felt happiness coming reciprocating from her, he gave a big smile, almost rivaling one of Phlox's.

            '_I'm going to be a Daddy!'_ he thought.

            Phlox unintentionally interrupted their thoughts, "Well, I guess you won't be needing those hormones, Sub-Commander, and a hearty congratulations to you two.  You'll be wonderful parents."

            '_Parents'_ the two highest officers on Enterprise thought at the same time.  That thought both frightened them and thrilled them.  Jon thought of something,

            "Doctor, can you tell us anything about the baby yet?"

            "No, it's way too early for that.  I believe that T'Pol's body has just recently realized that it's carrying a baby and that it should 'turn off' her Pon Farr.  At least we can have an accurate due date – thirty three weeks from now or so, depending on how Vulcan the child is."

            "Thirty three?  I thought that a normal human gestation was about forty weeks.  Why is the Vulcan one shorter?"

            T'Pol answered his question before Phlox could, and sent reassurance to him to make sure he knew she wasn't trying to offend him, "Vulcans' are more evolved than Humans, so their heads are larger.  An earlier birth is necessary because otherwise, the child's head will not fit through the pelvis of the mother, killing both of them."

            "Ohh," Jon replied.  No wonder she was his science officer! "That explains why many young animals can walk an hour after their birth, where as humans take a year or so.  They're less developed."

            "Correct, Captain," Phlox put in, "Perhaps you should be the Doctor here, Sub-Commander, not me." They all chuckled at his joke, except for T'Pol it happened inside.  On the surface, she just raised an eyebrow.  Jon was amazed to hear - well, not totally hear, but close enough – her laugh for the first time.

            Phlox got a bottle and brought it over to T'Pol before he went off into his office. "Here are some prenatal vitamins that you should start taking.  Now, I'll leave you two to your breakfasts.  Oh, and when you feel ready to go back on duty, tell me so I can check you for any last signs of 'your flu'.  We wouldn't want that spreading any further than you two, would we?" It was handy to have a doctor that was so on top of things, Jon realized.  

            Jon and T'Pol got their food and sat on opposite biobeds, facing each other.  They knew that they could talk freely; Phlox had known that they would want privacy and had given it to them.  Now that she knew she wasn't dying anymore, a new worry had come into her mind.  Actually, it wasn't a new worry, but that worry now had a child added to it.  Jon sensed that she needed to talk and set down his tray, ready to listen and support her.

            "Jonathan, I'm not part of the Vulcan Science Directorate anymore.  I am an outcast on Vulcan and of Vulcans for staying on Enterprise, and when people find out about bonding with you and having this child…" She didn't mention an 'if people find out', because, logically, they both knew that their secret would get out, "They might even want to kill our child.  I don't really have a home anymore, and this child won't either." Jon could feel that T'Pol had been holding these feelings inside of her for months, probably since they'd gone into the Expanse.  He sent lots of reassurance to her.

            "We can make a home here on Enterprise.  We'll make it work."

            T'Pol looked at him, her fear showing in her eyes, "We don't know that."

            "We'll do our best, which is all we can do.  Together."

            T'Pol looked at him, still very vulnerable, and he moved to sit on her biobed.  Most of the love felt before was beginning to be covered up by fear – fear for themselves, but mostly fear for their unborn child.  As he took her in his arms, held her tight, and put a hand on her abdomen, he whispered, "I love you two, always." 

            T'Pol sent her love back to him through their bond.

End (of stage one)

Cont…


	6. Another Partner in Crime

Hold Me Through 

By: Keleshnar

Disclaimer: I haven't gotten my present yet, so I don't own them, but I am making money off this now! – well, if you count the dime I found while writing this.  Okay, okay, so I'm not making any _real_ profits…

Spoilers: Stigma

A/N: Sorry about the delay in posting.  I meant to have this chapter out last week, but, well… let's just say time management isn't my strongpoint.  The next update should be faster.  

This story is now entering the second of its three stages.  If you didn't know, the first five chapters were part of Stage One: The Pon Farr.  The second stage (what you're reading right now) is called The Birth.  It's about the events leading up to the birth of Jon and T'Pol's child (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, go read the last five chapters).  As always, Mana and Faith = very helpful beta-ers, and REVIEWS ARE GOOD!  A thank you to all of you who have reviewed already; I appreciate it greatly.  If you spot something, even a misspelling or a grammar mistake, please point it out to me.  I like people who nitpick.  Oh, and I am evil, again (except this time it will turn out differently). Read on to understand, but just know that I'm holding the next chapter hostage until I get some reviews.  And I hope that the paragraphs that switch between the bridge and the ready room aren't too confusing.  If this were an episode (I wish!), you'd have the scene panning between the activities in the bridge, and in the ready room.  

Okay, that was a long authors note.  Sorry!  Now to the story…

Stage Two: The Birth

Chapter 6: Another Partner in Crime

            "Captain, there is a class M planet coming up that is unusually rich in trilithium," T'Pol stated, looking down at her scans.

            Captain Archer looked at his science officer with a blank face.  T'Pol could feel that he didn't understand what was so different about the planet, especially when he responded, "And…"

            "Trilithium is a fairly rare element, and such abundant quantities would have a unique effect on the fauna and flora.  Collecting samples from the planet could be highly useful and interesting."

            "Oh, would you suggest sending down an away team?"

            "Yes, Sir.  The atmosphere is 5% carbon dioxide, 30% oxygen, and 65% nitrogen, and there might be creatures that would be harmful to us on the surface, so I would suggest wearing EVsuits."

            '_And not setting things on fire'_ Jon finished and chuckled in his head.

            "Alright, Malcolm, get a team together of security officers and scientists and meet me in the situation room."

            "But Sir," Malcolm objected, "Shouldn't Sub-Commander T'Pol come down also since she's the science officer?"  Jon could feel T'Pol's questioning and annoyed gaze on his face, as well as in his head, and he briefly met her eyes before getting up and walking toward the situation room.

            "Uh… right.  Join us as soon as you've notified the science team, T'Pol."  And with a nod from Malcolm, T'Pol notified the science officers.

            _'That was odd…' _Hoshi thought, looking around from her communications station, where she had been silently observing the whole interaction_. 'Why would T'Pol not go on a science mission?' _

Then, as Malcolm and T'Pol filed into the Captain's situation room, Hoshi noticed, not for the first time, that the Sub-Commander had gained a little weight recently.  Not much, but it was more obvious than it would be otherwise since she wore a tight-fitting suit.  It wasn't her old uniform, but it was similar in many respects with the crossover front.  Hoshi was pretty sure she was the only one that noticed this, first, since she was good at noticing things, and second, she was a woman, which contributed to the first thing.  

            A few minutes later, Malcolm walked out of the situation room and back to his station, and when T'Pol didn't follow, Hoshi though, '_I bet she's giving Captain Archer a piece of her mind.'_

            Indeed, T'Pol was doing that exact thing.  Except she, unlike Hoshi, knew why Jon had tried to avoid having her on the away mission, "I am still very capable of doing my job, Jonathan.  I am only two months pregnant.  If I don't go, it will be for a very illogical reason, and the crew will notice.  I had heard that human fathers could be overprotective, but this is extremely unnecessary and out of proportion."

            "Whoa, alright… sorry," Jon put his hands up in front of him as a gesture of apology and defeat, "I just still don't like the idea of you down there," he motioned to the planet with his head, "where there could be harm just waiting to get you two at every turn."

            Meanwhile on the bridge, Hoshi's mind was wandering again, _'T'Pol has been having little bouts of sickness, too - nausea.  Like when she had just sat down to her station at the beginning of the shift, and she had to get up suddenly and run to the turbolift.  Yeah, that was really weird.  Almost like…'_

There was a little *click* in Hoshi's head as she put together the information, and her eyes widened as she finished her thought, _'morning sickness!  Oh my God!  T'Pol's pregnant!!'_ it all made sense now – the weight, the new suits that she'd seen being carried in, the over-protectiveness of the Captain… Another little *click* went off in her brain, and Hoshi almost had to cover her mouth to stop the scream of surprise and excitement, _'Captain Archer's the father! Oh my God!_' She couldn't believe it!  Okay, maybe she could, she realized once she thought about it.  She'd been noticing some small things for a while, but never suspected this!  She had to tell them how happy she was for them.  She knew it was only the Captain and the Sub-Commander in the situation room, because Malcolm was at his station, so she decided to go tell them now.  Nervously, she walked up the ready room door and rang the chime.

            When the door opened, Jon and T'Pol were at opposite sides of the table, with T'Pol looking at some scans on the screen and Jon looking at a PADD.  Hoshi suspected, correctly, that they had not been in those positions until just before she'd entered.  She stood there nervously, biting her lip, for a minute, but at Jon's questioning, "Ensign?" she couldn't hold the excitement in anymore.

            "Congratulations, Sir, Ma'am!" and on an impulse, Hoshi went over and hugged T'Pol.  Afterwards, all three of them in the room looked shocked.  Jon looked sideways at T'Pol with an unsure glance, and then said,

            "What do you mean, Hoshi?" T'Pol, however, knew that the woman had caught on, and didn't try to deny the pregnancy.

            "Thank you, Ensign," Then T'Pol did something amazing, for her – she half-smiled.  "How did you know?" she continued.

            "Oh, you know, just my instincts."  Though Jon was clueless as to what this meant, Hoshi and T'Pol understood.  This incident was the first bond of their soon to be strong friendship.

Once that moment of bonding had passed, Jon moved over to Hoshi, accepting that she knew, and hugged her.  He also silently accepted that she would not tell anyone else, which Hoshi knew not to.  A wide grin then lit upon his face, and he proceeded to talk very excitedly with Hoshi about babies and such, as if he'd been holding back for a while but had really been wanting to talk to someone.  T'Pol suddenly felt very Vulcan at that moment, and very excluded.  To her, it almost seemed like she was watching them talk through someone else's eyes, and having no mouth to input her own comments into their conversation.  She saw how they were both so excited, moving their hands animatedly to help them communicate, and she could feel the emotions radiating vibrantly from Jonathan; emotions that she herself wasn't sure how to express.  

When there was a pause in their conversation, Jon seemed to feel that T'Pol was feeling slightly confused and lonely, and put his arm around her, pulling her into their 'circle' of conversation literally and figuratively by saying, as though no one had known it beforehand, "And we're gonna have a baby."  He then just turned to T'Pol, and smiled a very deep, contented smile.  T'Pol could feel her unhappy emotions slide away as she realized how much he truly understood her and her needs, and that he was a constant in her changing life that she could count on.

*          *            *            *            *

            Upon later contemplation during mediation, T'Pol fully realized how much Jon really wanted to have someone know about their child besides the two of them and Phlox, and to be able to talk to them.  Dr. Phlox had been very helpful, like when they were bringing the Doctor the samples she'd collected from the planet they'd visited; the two men had gotten into a discussion about when T'Pol should not be allowed on away missions.  T'Pol had been quite irked that she was outside of a conversation that involved her directly.  But it still wasn't the same as talking to a human.

She remembered how, when she and Jonathan had first found out about their child, he had almost run down the deserted halls, shouting for joy.  She could feel his total gleefulness, and that he wanted to share it with everyone, but they both knew that they couldn't - not yet.  She'd had to send reassuring thoughts to him to help keep all of the feelings inside.  When they got to his quarters, so that he could feed Porthos, Jonathan had picked the beagle up and danced around the room with him, shouting, albeit quietly, "We're gonna have a baby! Can you believe it? We're gonna have a baby!"  When Porthos was set down and fed, T'Pol became his dance partner, and as they did their silly dance of joy around the cabin, T'Pol had laughed freely for the first time in her life.  She knew that that particular day would stay in both of their minds forever.

*          *            *            *            *

            Vulcans weren't usually impatient, but at the moment T'Pol was feeling very much so.  She was supposed to meet Jonathan here, in the mess hall, five minutes ago. They were to meet with Doctor Phlox about the results of the blood and DNA tests that T'Pol and their child had taken days before.  The two of them had planned on taking late lunches today so that they could meet privately in the mess hall to eat and then go to sickbay.  Only Jonathan was late. 

            Thinking about the blood tests only added to the worry that had been plaguing the back of her mind for a while.  There was no way to know whether their child had contracted her Pa'Nar Syndrome because of his or her totally unique genes.  The syndrome had been in remission well since she had given Phlox that other information from Doctor Yuris.  They were able to slow the progression much more than before, but she had a feeling that with the excess hormones realting to being pregnant, it could rear its head again.  The Doctor had told her after the tribunal in front of the Science Directorate that the disease could not be transmitted cross-species, as far as he could tell, which was fortunate.

            As T'Pol turned these ideas - as well as the annoyed impatience - over in her head, she did not hear the doors of the mess hall swish open, nor did she see Hoshi until the woman had gotten her lunch and came over to T'Pol's table to try to join her.

            "Ma'am?  May I join you?" Hoshi asked, somewhat hesitantly.  She had seen the concentrating, slightly angry look on T'Pol's face and didn't want to be on the receiving end of that anger.

            Hoshi's words brought T'Pol out of her reverie - she wasn't angry, though.  Her face assumed its normal expression, which actually lacked any expression, and she took an extra second to think through what the Ensign had said before replying, "Of course."  

Truthfully, though, she wasn't thrilled at all about having someone in the mess hall with her.  The only reason that she and the Captain were going to meet in the actual mess hall instead of the Captain's mess was that they assumed it would be empty.  But, she reasoned, of all the people to show up, Ensign Sato was definitely the best choice.

"I was just finishing charting some of that new language we heard a few days ago.  I wanted to finish before lunch, or my lunch at least, so I was surprised to see you here so late…" Hoshi rambled on slightly, trying to fill the silence, which was becoming uncomfortable.  '_Hoshi,'_ she added in her mind, _'you call yourself a good communications officer, and here you are nervous talking to the Sub-Commander!  Get with it, and actually talk about something!'_ When she looked up from a bite of her turkey salad, she noticed that T'Pol was looking off into space again.

"Is there something wrong, Sub-Commander?" Hoshi asked.  When T'Pol turned to her, Hoshi knew that there was definitely something on her mind from the well-hidden expressions of unease and indecision flitting across the older woman's face.  Unknown to Hoshi, T'Pol had just had a debate within herself, and decided that it would be helpful to have a… friend, and someone to confide in.

"I am worried about my child," T'Pol stated simply.  Hoshi didn't expect to be confided in, but she recovered quickly and set out to be as helpful as possible.

"Anything specific?" A pause as Hoshi realized something and added, "Does it have to do with your having lunch so late?"

T'Pol looked the Ensign directly in the eye, and said, "Yes… I was supposed to meet the Captain here almost ten minutes ago so that we could find out the results of some tests Doctor Phlox ran…"

"And you're worried about the tests, and why Captain Archer didn't show?" T'Pol noted once again how proficient of an officer Ensign Sato was, and was opening her mouth to reply when the wall comm rang, and T'Pol stood to answer it. 

"T'Pol here."

"T'Pol? Are you alone?" Jonathan's voice came wafting through the comm unit, and though Hoshi half tried to tune it out, as it was a private conversation, her curiosity got the better of her, and she couldn't help but listen.

T'Pol looked from the comm to Ensign Sato sitting at the table, and decided to put some trust in the Ensign.

"Alone enough," Hoshi looked up at T'Pol at this comment, forgetting she wasn't supposed to be listening, and locked eyes with T'Pol.  A pathway of understanding and trust flowed between the two at that moment.

"Okay…" Jon continued.  T'Pol could feel his confusion through their link, and could almost see his brow wrinkling with that same sentiment, but he trusted her, and so continued, "Uh, Admiral Forrest just contacted me with a live comuniqué, and I need to answer it because it's probably going to be the last live message from anyone for a while.  I had to get Trip to boost the receiver's power just to get it, so…" T'Pol understood what he meant – since they've been in the expanse, communication with Star Fleet was getting harder.  Every message was important, too, and Jonathan couldn't attract attention by not answering one.  She could feel his sincere disappointment and apology at not being able to go with her, and she forgave him; it wasn't directly his fault anyway.

"I will go alone," T'Pol didn't like the prospect, but she had to keep the appointment with Phlox: there were only certain times of day that they could visit him together and not be seen.

"I'll talk to you afterwards.  Archer out," This may have not seemed like a very good end for their conversation to anyone else, but T'Pol felt the feelings that went with it, and it was very adequate.

There was a pause where T'Pol walked back to the table and sat down for a moment, Hoshi watching her.  She swallowed the food that was in her mouth and said,

"I'll go with you, Ma'am, if you'd like," Hoshi understood to a point how worried T'Pol was; Hoshi herself had pondered about the possible outcomes if the child was, or conversely, wasn't viable.  It was a whole lot for a person to go through by herself.  She didn't totally expect to have her offer accepted, but when T'Pol answered,

"Yes, I'd like that Ensign, thank you," Hoshi made a mental note to start being more confident in their forming friendship.

*          *            *            *            *

            "Well, Sub-Commander, I do have some good news." Phlox stated as he walked around a bio-bed towards T'Pol and Hoshi, who were standing in almost the center of sickbay.  He had wondered somewhat at the Sub-Commander's choice of companionship, but once it was explained, he thought that it was a very good idea.  It would be hard to receive some of this information alone.

            "It seems that your child is quite healthy, and is growing as normally as can be expected," Phlox could hear T'Pol let out a breath that she probably didn't even know she was holding in a big 'whoosh'.  He smiled and continued.

            "Would you like to know the gender?"

            "Yes," T'Pol replied.  She and Jonathan had talked about it and decided that they would like to know beforehand.  Just as Phlox was starting his next sentence, Hoshi interrupted,

            "Uh, before you continue, I think that Captain Archer should be here when you find out the gender," she said, looking to T'Pol. "I'm just here for moral support."

            T'Pol nodded in agreement, though she gave Ensign Sato a look that said 'you're more than just moral support'.

            Phlox's smiled faded as he cleared his throat and went on,

            "I do, however, have some bad news…"

cont…


	7. Oddities

Hold Me Through 

By: Keleshnar

Disclaimer: Same old, same old.  You guys should know it by now.

A/N: First of all, I'm _really _that this chapter took so long to get out.  I'll try to be better next time, truly! 

But now, the conclusion to last chapter – "What is Dr. Phlox's bad news?!" Aren't I evil ;P  Just so you know, *~*~*~*~* represents a long time period, and * * * * * (as has been seen before) just represents a short time/scene change.  I'm trying to tackle the difficult subject of grief to write about in this chapter, and others to come (aka Trip).  For the purpose of this story, Trip's grief is mostly like was portrayed in "The Xindi" and "Anomaly", and not as much like in "The Expanse".  This change is the only part of S3 I'm going to be including, though.  HMT takes place during the hiatus between S2 and S3 (this makes writing this story both easier and possible).  For all of you that have reviewed, thank you (especially to those who have reviewed more than once!), and for all of you that haven't… well, get on it (please)!

Chapter 7: Oddities

            Hoshi didn't know what to think.  She had evidently successfully tricked herself into thinking that T'Pol's pregnancy would go just perfectly, because she was shocked now to hear that there was bad news.  When she though about it, though, it unfortunately made sense that the first interspecies offspring wouldn't go too smoothly.  Hoshi was suddenly plagued by terrible images of a decrepit child of Captain Archer and the Sub-Commander, which made her shiver involuntarily and step closer to T'Pol for both of their comforts.

            T'Pol, standing next to Hoshi, was waiting for the Doctor to go on.  She didn't want to think of any of the possibilities because first, her imagination would make things even worse than they probably were.  Second she didn't want Jonathan to feel her emotions, which she was trying especially hard to tamp down at the moment.  She knew that during a meeting with Admiral Forrest would be a very bad time for Jonathan to sense that something was wrong.

            Doctor Phlox hesitated and asked T'Pol quietly, "Are you sure you want me to share this now?" Even though Hoshi was right next to them and could hear quite clearly, neither of the other two noticed her at that moment.

            T'Pol just nodded impatiently – she wanted to know what was wrong with her child quickly so she could try to come up with a solution equally as quickly.  She wouldn't let herself accept at this time that there might not be a solution to whatever Phlox was about to tell her.

            The Doctor continued slowly, trying to minimize the pain that would come from his next statement. "T'Pol, your child has Pa'Nar Syndrome.  I'm sorry."  And indeed, he did look it.  His normally jovial face was down-turned.  This was the one part of being a doctor he didn't like – delivering the bad news.

            In that moment, T'Pol felt a totally new emotion – wild panic mixed with fear and shock.  She was speechless for a moment while trying to gather her suddenly harried thoughts.  Hoshi, meanwhile, was confused.

            "Um, Dr. Phlox?  What's Pa'Nar Syndrome?" she asked cautiously.

            With a look to T'Pol for verification on confidentiality, which she didn't even notice, he began to explain. "It's a degenerative nerve synapse disease in Vulcans that is transferred through mind melds.  Here, Ensign, I'll bring up the database page about it so you can read." He ushered Hoshi over to a computer console, typed in a few words and left her to her reading.  She knew that this was only partially to inform her – he wanted to deal with T'Pol and her reaction without onlookers.

            Doctor Phlox approached the Sub-Commander cautiously because not only did he not want to disturb her, he didn't want any sudden violent feelings taken out on him.  He didn't expect her to go to that extreme, but it was a possibility.  He walked around so he was facing her and waited for her onslaught of questions to begin.

            T'Pol looked up from the spot on the floor that she'd been gazing at while her mind whirred.  In a timid voice she asked, "How did this happen?"

            This was the most vulnerable that Phlox had ever seen her, so he made extra efforts to consider her condition when answering. "I'm not quite sure… I believe that the unique Human/Vulcan DNA might have made a mind-melding disease into a sexually transmitted disease."

            "But that is impossible.  The disease is only transmitted by mind melds…"

            "Evidently not anymore." Phlox could sense that the logical side of her was being pushed to the front to hide the hurt and tried to think of a way to keep that from happening.  That would just bottle up her feelings, which not help her get through them at all.

            "Sub-Commander, I will double my efforts of searching for a cure for the syndrome.  There are a few plant specimens from that last planet we went to that look promising.  I still have more research to do, but the high levels of Trilithium seem to counter-affect the symptoms.  You must not give up hope.  You and Captain Archer will be the first to know when I find something."  That speech seemed to help somewhat because her body language became more relaxed.

            "Thank you, Doctor."  T'Pol turned to Hoshi, who had finished reading and was walking towards her and the Doctor.  They left together, T'Pol answering the younger woman's questions about the Vulcan disease.

            When T'Pol came to her quarters after bidding Hoshi goodbye, she sent a mental thought to Archer as she walked through her door and sat down nervously on her bed. '_Jonathan, please hurry.'_

*          *          *          *          *

That message was sent with earnest, sorrow and fear, and Jon heard it loud and clear.  Now he _really_ wanted to end his meeting with the Admiral.  They had been discussing a very important matter, but T'Pol and their child by far took priority over a meeting.  Jon excused himself as gracefully as was possible, shut down the terminal and practically jumped out his ready room and into the turbolift.

Hoshi was back at her station and barely had time to notice the Captain quickly whisk through the bridge.  She sent thoughts of sympathy and strength to them, even though she knew they wouldn't hear.  She reminded herself to try extra hard to be supportive, even though she didn't fully understand what was happening.

While in the lift, Jon sent questions and reassurances to T'Pol in between his curses about the lift's slowness.  When the doors finally opened on E deck, he made sure no one was in sight and then sprinted down the hall to T'Pol's quarters.  She opened them when his hand was an inch off the doorbell, sensing that he was there.

They sat down on her bed and before T'Pol could begin, Jon realized something.  "I heard your thoughts – the actual words, not just the feelings associated with them."

"Yes," T'Pol replied. "The link is getting stronger.  My strong emotions must have helped carry my thought."  Jon realized how much she'd changed in three short months when she freely admitted that she'd had strong emotions.  Granted, she was very comfortable around him, but it was definitely a change, and he thought it was for the better.

Jon decided to tell her about his meeting with Admiral Forrest before she told him what she had to say.  "My conversation with Admiral Forrest didn't go too badly."

T'Pol sat up straighter to listen to what he had to say.  They had decided to ask Starfleet to not send the military squad to Enterprise for the ships protection.  Their reasons were that the Human military had no experience in this part of the galaxy, whereas a local military squad would.  They would also be better prepared for anything that Enterprise might encounter than humans would be and the aliens might know their way around a little.  They'd already met up with a nasty cloud of life forms, and it had taken ejecting burning plasma to get rid of the invaders before the whole crew was eaten alive.  Hopefully Starfleet had agreed with their thoughts and would let them find another protective escort.  She and Jonathan had their own personal reasons to not wanting more Humans on board, also – they would definitely be opposed to the idea of a Human/Vulcan child, whereas offworlders might not be.

"We're scheduled stop at the next inhabited planets we find to try to hire a group that would be adequate to our needs."

"Planet…s?" T'Pol asked.

"Yes.  Starfleet suspected and I agree that we probably won't find what we need on the first planet or two."

"Will it take us off our current course very much?" _'That's T'Pol.'_ Jon thought. '_Always thinking about her job.'_

"No, not very much.  And we'll need some help once we get closer to the Xindi, as you know."  T'Pol could feel the pain and hate in Jonathan when he said that word.  She couldn't fully comprehend how he felt, as Vulcan had never had this tragedy happen, but she could certainly understand to a point.  His slight anger, though, was nothing compared to what little she had seen of Trip's anger over the past few months.  He had all but become a hermit, keeping to himself and snapping angrily and spitefully at anyone who tried to engage him in conversation.

At what seemed like the logical end of that conversation, T'Pol paused a moment to let the current topic settle and to collect her thoughts.  She then began to tell him what was on her mind.  "Jonathan, while I was in Sickbay for my checkup, Dr. Phlox had some bad news."  She could hear his sharp intake of breath and could feel the worry starting to creep through his consciousness.

"What was the bad news?"  T'Pol looked down at her hands but then moved her gaze to Jonathan's, where his eyes were pleading for her to continue.

"Our child has Pa'Nar Syndrome."  His first reaction was shock, but all of the other emotions associated with pain and early grief soon followed.  He didn't ask how it had happened – that wasn't important.  All he knew was that it had happened.  He slid his hand over T'Pol's, interlocked their fingers and gave a reassuring squeeze.  After a moment she reciprocated the squeeze, moved closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder, needing the physical comfort.  When they touched, her emotions of devastation and pain ripped through Jon even more and he maneuvered himself so that she could rest fully on him.  They ended up with T'Pol's torso on Jon's chest, one of his arms encircling her, the other on her slightly rounded belly and her arms holding on to his.  As they held onto each other for support and comfort, they both thought of what might lay ahead.  There was no need to state the fact that because of the disease, their child would now have no chance at all of being accepted among Vulcans – and Humans might not be too much better.  Their family could very possibly be isolated from their home worlds and species for the rest of their lives.  With these daunting thoughts, the couple drifted into a restless sleep, their only comfort each other.

*          ~          *          ~          *          ~          *          ~          *

Trip sat down at one of the many deserted tables in the mess hall, a coffee cup in his hand.  The wall chronometer said 0100.  He'd started to come here late at night trying to avoid all contact with anyone who thought he needed his or her pity.  Also, he couldn't sleep.  Four months in the Expanse, and not any closer to revenging his sister's death.  Every once in a while he'd realized how antisocial he was being and would miss the interaction, but then he'd remember Lizzie.  He hated saying or thinking that – "remembering Lizzie".  It made her death too real for him to deal with at all.

He had gone into a slump of depression recently.  He hated nights like these where he was so lonesome he could cry.  He knew he needed to talk to someone, to get things off his chest, but he couldn't make himself do it.  His life seemed to have closed in on him, leaving him no way out.  He slumped over the table, sipping his coffee, wishing something would happen to break the monotony that had become his miserable life. 

*          *          *

T'Pol knew it was late.  She was awake whether she liked it or not, though, and hunger was starting to grip her stomach, so she decided to go the mess hall.  She expected no one to be there – she'd rather not have anyone there to watch her eat since she was four months pregnant and could feel a craving begin to form.  She and Jonathan had guessed that a good portion of the crew knew about her pregnancy by now because  she had, begrudgingly, started to wear maternity clothes and her abdomen was noticeably swollen.

She was only just able to mask her look of surprise when she walked into the mess hall and saw Trip sipping his coffee and looking down. '_His condition is at a troubling state if he eats at this hour just to avoid social interaction, however painful it might be for him.'_  She thought as she tried to walk past his table unseen.

Trip saw her though and motioned for her to sit down with him.  He wasn't quite sure what he might do; he reasoned that arguing with T'Pol might be a good way to relieve some of his stress from grieving.  He'd always enjoyed ruffling her feathers.  As she sat down across from him, he noticed her pregnant belly and realized that the rumors going around the ship were true – T'Pol was pregnant.  He knew that the only possible father was Jon.  These facts made him both happy and angry at the same time.  On the one hand, he was happy for them, but on the other hand he was mad that Jon would leave their friendship behind while he went and had a baby with T'Pol.  His mind flitted back and forth between happy and angry, and eventually happy won.  He'd been angry too much lately, and it was wearing him down.  He visibly relaxed, those happy thoughts about the innocence and wonderfulness of children running through his head.

T'Pol, meanwhile, was curiously watching his change.  When Commander Tucker asked her, "So how far along are you?" she was startled as took a second before she answered,

"Four months."  

"You know what it is yet?" At T'Pol's lifted eyebrow he rolled his eyes and clarified, "The gender."

"No." 

She and Jonathan hadn't been able to find an uninterrupted time where they could look at the chromosome analysis to find out the gender.  

Right now, though, she and the Commander sat in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes after their short conversation.  Then T'Pol's craving got the best of her and she asked, trying to ignore her grumbling stomach, "Is there any food out?"  Meaning, had Chef prepared a midnight snack for anyone who happened to wander in during the very early morning.

"Don't think so.  Whatcha want?"  Trip surprised himself with how cordial he was being, but he decided not to question it at the moment and just play along.

T'Pol stood up and walked to the drink re-synthesizer, ordering herbal tea.  As she walked back to the table she pondered how to phrase her request.  "I think I want… what is it called… peanut butter."

Trip's first reaction was to run for it before he threw up.  All he could imagine was T'Pol taking a spoon of peanut butter, stirring it around in her tea, and watching as the two ingredients mixed together into an awful brew. '_Tea and peanut butter?!?  Eeeuuhww!'_  He managed to squash that notion down, however, and tentatively told her, "I think there's some in the kitchen."  He wasn't sure whether he wanted her to get her that god-awful sounding snack, but he knew better than to get in the way of a woman's cravings.

Trip pushed open the swinging door to the kitchen, T'Pol following him, and he started opening cabinets, searching for peanut butter.  He opened one particular cabinet, pushed aside a jar of jelly and…

"Here's some!  Do you want crunchy or smooth?"

"Excuse me?"

Trip smiled a little – she wanted peanut butter, yet she didn't know the difference between crunchy and smooth. "Smooth is ground until there's no chunks of peanuts, and crunchy has bits of peanuts mixed it."

T'Pol debated the choice within herself for a minute and then decided to make things easy on herself. "I will try both of them."

"Okay."  Trip said slightly warily and handed the partially empty jars to her.  He realized how very un-Vulcan she had just been when he saw her turn around, a jar in both hand, and march out to their table without another word.

When he closed the cabinet door and walked to the table to sit down, he saw that T'Pol had unscrewed both lids and was sitting there staring at the open jars looking very perplexed.  He sat down and looked at her, not sure what to make of the odd situation.  Her face scrunched up in uncertainty before she asked,

"How does one eat peanut butter?"

He fumbled for an answer before saying, "Usually not alone."  As in on a sandwich.

 T'Pol wasn't even going to rebut that she wasn't alone; he was sitting there across from her, but she just kept on looking at him, waiting for a more appropriate answer.  When her famous eyebrow rose, he offered another solution.

"With a spoon?"  

She nodded slightly, stood up, and walked over to the silverware holder.  Trip turned his head to follow her movement, noting that she had taken six spoons.  

"Why six?  You're only eating two types of peanut butter."

Her look gave him the impression that she was thinking '_uncivilized Humans,_' again.  "Obviously I don't want to contaminate the jar, which is what I would do if I only had two spoons and wanted another bite."

"Oh…" Trip said softly as she set down all but one of the spoons and poised it in mid-air halfway between the two jars.  He watched in almost morbid curiosity as she debated which to try first.  His stomach was doing flips; he was unsure of whether he should be grossed out or interested.  He finally decided to be somewhere in-between the two and watched with baited breath as she dug her spoon into the crunchy jar and brought the full utensil to her mouth.  She tasted a small bite, swallowed, nodded thoughtfully and with a pleased look on her face she finished off her spoonful and grabbed another spoon to dig in with.  All Trip could do was shake his head – he had never expected his night to be so… peculiar.  As he watched her happily eat, he unconsciously relaxed, the pain moving to the background for the moment.  Talking to T'Pol – even just being around another person – had helped him unwind.  He decided to try to talk to the crew more again.  Painful though he knew it would be, he also knew it was a step in the right direction.

Cont…


	8. Wisdom and Trust

Hold Me Through 

By: Keleshnar

Disclaimer: Again, I wish.

A/N: I've decided to amuse my readers by writing along the 'guidelines' they requested (their points were quite valid).  I hope everyone's happy with this : ) Also, if you haven't read the debate(s) going on in my reviews, I suggest you do.  They're very amusing (I almost think that they're more popular than the story… ;P ).  A gold star to anyone who identifies to which other TV show I referenced, and Faith is an irreplaceable beta.  Lastly, I know this update is too late to even be mentioned *sheepish look*, so I'll give a little update on the situation: T'Pol recently befriended Hoshi, the baby has Pa'Nar Syndrome, Trip witnessed one of T'Pol's cravings, and he is trying to slowly get help for his grief.  I did make the chapter the longest yet, though, so it's not all bad.  Now go, read, enjoy, and review!

Chapter 8: Wisdom and Trust

            "Well?  Anything out there?" Jon asked rhetorically.  They'd been eagerly searching for a trade planet to dock at for the past two months, but nothing had looked promising yet.

            Actually, Enterprise had visited two other planets and passed by another three, but nothing seemed to have enough potential to warrant a visit.  Because of the first planet they visited, Jon had learned caution.

            A group of Draatic, the local species on the first planet Enterprise visited, had claimed to be traveling soldiers.  They were very cordial and seemed proficient, so the group was invited on board for a tour of Enterprise and to get used to the surroundings.  The Draatic had been split up into groups for touring ease.  When one group didn't return communications, a security team went to go find them.  Their findings were surprising, though not in retrospect - Crewman Sykes, the leader of that particular group, was dead.  His group had been touring cargo hold E, and evidently the goods were very enticing, because the Draatic killed Sykes and transported off of Enterprise with all of the goods.  

Enterprise pursued the pirates, and after a harrowing chase, most of the items were reclaimed from the Draatic ship.  Malcolm later recited what the security team had seen on the alien ship – countless slaves, bloody bodies from fights, and a huge amount of stolen goods.  Enterprise and her crew knew that they had been naïve and regretted it, but they were now wiser to the ways of the scum in the universe – and one man shorter.  It was an experience no one cared to repeat.

"Actually," T'Pol replied, looking up from her scanner. "There seems to be a… trade station a parsec away bearing 022 mark 45."  

The one good thing that had come from their run in with the Draatic was that Dr. Phlox had talked to some of the local physicians on the planet and they had given him information about this region of the expanse.  A few of Phlox's herbal supplies had been running out, so he had gone down with the away team to try to refill them.  While completing his barters, he'd chatted with the vendors and they'd ended up giving him a PADD with many interesting and useful facts.  It turns out that the space stations and ships in the region were built according to the purpose they had.  Trading stations were oblong, military stations were generally a cone shape, and transports were box shaped.

Jon watched as T'Pol slowly spun around at her station to her other to confirm her readings.  She couldn't move incredibly fast anymore since she was six months pregnant.  She had changed her style of garb again, this time to non-restricting Vulcan robes.  Jon thought that she looked very regal in the flowing beige and maroon material.

T'Pol was still insisting that she be allowed to work normal duty, and Jon had been 'forced' to let her have her way, even though he wasn't sure he agreed with her.  Hoshi had gotten wind of their argument, and she threatened to rally all of the female crewmembers in protest if Jon didn't comply with T'Pol's wishes.  At that point, the fight was over for him.  There was no way he was going to win against the third of the ship that was women.  

"On screen" Jon said, leaning back in his chair to contemplate their next move.  Nothing seemed out-of-the-ordinary about the station, but one couldn't really tell very much at this range. "Alert me when we're in range, Mr. Mayweather."

"Aye sir." Travis responded and set in the course.  Now all they had to do was wait.

*            *            *            *            *

"Sir, we're almost in range." Travis reported.

"Good, slow to impulse." Captain Archer replied.  His stomach was starting to do small flip-flops – everyone was nervous about meeting new species in the Expanse after the first tragic incident.

"Aye sir." As the space station came into view, T'Pol started scanning again.  After one scan, she looked up, her brow slightly furrowed, and said,

"Captain, there is an odd…"

"I know; I see it." Jon interrupted, sitting up straight.  Everyone's eyes were now on the viewscreen, looking at the apparently impossible anomaly.  "Do we know…"

"How this is possible?" This time, T'Pol interrupted him.  Everyone's gaze on the bridge had now turned to watch the interaction between the Captain and the Science Officer.  The two were catching the tale end of each other's thoughts and verbally replying to those thoughts before they were spoken, and it was very odd and unusual to watch.  At Jon's nod, she continued. "No.  Presumably this is just another anomaly of the Expanse."

            Hoshi and Travis exchanged a glance, and then Hoshi said, "But Sub-Commander, it's… upside down."  Of course, a space station couldn't really be upside down because ships could dock from a different angle, but from their viewpoint it just had a certain look that made it feel like it was.  On the center portion of the saucer shaped station there were wide windows showing trade stands with very small people walking around.  This was normal enough, except for the fact that the windows were on the bottom of the station, and the people were walking upside down as far as Enterprise's bridge crew could see.  What appeared to them as the top looked like the bottom of other space stations they'd come across – there were many maintenance ports and tubing running along the surface.

            "Captain, there is a fluctuating curve in space 500 meters ahead.  I suggest that we do not rush into anything." T'Pol stated from her station.

            "I agree.  Travis, .2 impulse." Travis nodded his head and slowed down again, waiting for further orders.

            "Captain…" T'Pol stated, her voice rising slightly.  Jon could tell something was wrong, so he immediately turned towards her and looked at her in earnest.  All eyes on the bridge were staring at the ship's science officer, waiting for her to continue. "The anomaly appears to me moving towards us.   We will intersect fifteen seconds."

            Jon sat up stiffly in his chair, his face stern.  He was ready for action and started giving out orders.  "Travis, full stop!  Archer to Engineering," he tapped the comm on his armrest.

            "Engineering.  What'cha need Captain?" Trip responded.  As soon as he heard the worry in Jon's voice Trip himself started to worry.

            "Trip, a spatial anomaly is moving towards us.  I need you to…"

            "Captain!  It's speeding up!  Three seconds and closing." T'Pol interrupted Jon and Trip.  Jon only had time to look towards the view screen before they hit the anomaly.  The ship jolted upward, as if she had hit a wave of something, and there was a split second where everything seemed to go black. It was almost as if the entire crew blinked at the same time.  Jon confusedly looked at T'Pol.

            "The station no longer appears to be "upside-down," as Ensign Sato stated.  One can only assume that the anomaly turned us upside-down, therefore making the space station seem correctly positioned." T'Pol answered his unspoken question.

            "Uh-huh.  Interesting.  I guess you don't need me to do anything anymore, huh Jon?"  Trip commented through the comm.

            "No… thanks.  Archer out." 

            Hoshi hit some keys on her panel and reported, "No systems seemed to have been harmed, sir."

Jon nodded, turned to Travis, and said, "take us to the station and prepare to dock, Travis."

            Travis nodded his head as he complied, and Enterprise drew closer to the station.

*          *            *            *            *

            "Malcolm, I need you and your team to be alert at all times.  We'll ask some of the vendors about whom to hire.  And make sure to have a portable UT," Jon said.  He, T'Pol, and Malcolm were in the situation room planning what they were going to do once they went into the station.  Malcolm nodded and walked out of the room to the turbolift to get his security team ready.

            Jon turned to T'Pol and took her arm to let her know he had something he wanted to discuss.  "T'Pol, I don't want you on this mission and you know it.  I'm only letting you come with us because I trust your judgment and we need to know how they stand on protecting an expecting mother.  And, well, the human part of our baby has been getting to you a little lately…" he left the phrase hanging, knowing that she'd understand what he meant even if she didn't like it.  T'Pol gave him a dry stare, all she thought that comment deserved.

            John knew Vulcans valued their emotional control to an extreme, and he didn't want to offend her, especially since she was being more 'free' with her emotions and Vulcan anger was something he did not want to experience.  He felt he needed to alert her to the fact that she had been showing her emotions more freely recently, however.  She _was_ pregnant, so he was very impressed to the extent to which she was still able to control her emotions.  Vulcan determination and control was pretty amazing.  Which was partially why she was coming on this mission.

            T'Pol could tell through their link that Jon was trying very hard not to insult her in any way.  She knew he enjoyed and felt honored to have her drop her mental shield and show more emotion around him, so this was only in public.

            _'I will try my best, Jonathan.'_ She sent to him.  He nodded and responded verbally,

            "Thank you T'Pol.  I can use all of the logic you can give me right now."

            They'd discussed the 'hiring mission' after the first disaster and decided T'Pol needed to be on the away team.  She hadn't gone to the first planet because of the fear, mostly expressed by Jon, that she might get hurt, but everyone had eventually come to the consensus that the benefits of having T'Pol along outweighed the risks (Malcolm's swaying argument was that security would be very alert and careful of her on the missions, and that it wouldn't be any different if T'Pol was hurt on the planet or onboard except that other people would also be at risk also if she was hurt onboard).  T'Pol would be able to judge the sincerity and loyalty of any prospective soldiers from an objective point of view, and it was also important to see their first reaction to a pregnant woman.

            Their talk over, Jon walked T'Pol to the door.  "Walk with me to the shuttle bay?"  He asked.

            "No, thank you.  Dr. Phlox has created a serum from some plants that he thinks will help the…" T'Pol faltered and looked down.  Jonathan stepped closer to her and squeezed her hand reassuringly.  Their child's Pa'Nar Syndrome was distressing enough by itself, but the fact that T'Pol contracted the disease by force and their child also contracted it, neither by choice, made it even worse.

            Jon hugged her close, mindful of her belly, to help comfort her.  He realized that she felt guilty so he sent to her the thought '_Don't blame yourself.  Neither of you are guilty of anything.'_

            She rested her head on his shoulder and squeezed her eyes shut, reprimanding herself mentally.  '_The baby is affecting me!  I need to regain control of my emotions.'_ Jonathan just whispered comforting nothings into her ear and slowly circled her swollen abdomen with his hand.

            To regain more of her control, T'Pol took a step back and took a deep breath, concentrating on rebuilding her shields to their highest extent.  Once she was done she had her old totally emotionless mask on her face.  Even Jon cold barely read anything in her face.  Jon touched the door control once she was done and they stepped out.  He headed off toward the shuttle bay while she headed to sickbay.

*          *            *            *            *

            "Seems to be safe.  Nothing too out of place for a trading station."  Malcolm said, being his usual thorough self and checking the area multiple times before they proceeded.  The station's interior was made of a dingy brown metal material with many patches of a silver metalloid covering the roof.  Their docking hatch seemed to open at a corner of two wide paths – to the right were many stalls with multitudes of unknown alien races talking and bartering, and to the left were big piles of scrap metal, many of them melted down into lumps.  Some children were running around the base of one of the lumps, gleefully screaming and evidently not aware of the condition of their home.  Directly in front of them was what looked like a restaurant.  On the sides of the restaurant walls were many window panels, showing glimpses of the light and life inside.  The rest of the station had little lighting, which made the few bright lights at the stalls throw violent shadows on the walls around them, grotesquely profiling the vendors and customers.

            "Lieutenant, there is no reason to suspect anything yet.  We should ask the vendors to get information.  Once we have done that we can decide how cautionary we should be." T'Pol replied almost condescendingly.  Malcolm looked at her, wondering how she'd suddenly changed back into the formal Vulcan that she used to be two years ago.

            T'Pol marched off, albeit slowly for her bulk, toward the restaurant in front of them, her Vulcan robes swishing behind her.  Jon followed her and nodded for Malcolm to do the same while the other security members stayed behind. '_That was a little much.'_ He concentrated and sent to her.

            T'Pol sent back emotions of slight frustration and apology. '_It is hard to consciously choose between very strict and very lax.' _ She thought to herself.

            Once she got to the entrance of the eatery, she stopped and waited for the other two to catch up, letting Jonathan take the lead and Malcolm stay beside her.  Jon walked up to the bar, which was darker and gloomier than the rest of the place, sat down and signaled for the bartender while T'Pol and Malcolm sat down a few feet away.

            "Hey, bartender.  Do you know of any good mercenaries on this station?  Loyal ones, too?"  The bartender had a squatty build, and his face and arms looked like he'd been in a chemical accident – they were scarred and deformed.  The man eyed Jon, seeming to size him up, and then answered a little guardedly,

            "Wha'sit worth to ya'?" T'Pol raised an eyebrow in surprise at this comment, but Jon just half-laughed and replied,

            "How about we put in a good word for you?"  The man squinted his eyes, considered this offer, but then nodded, reluctantly accepting.

"Yah. Some 'Keepers might do wha'cha wan'."

            "And where could I find these… 'Keepers?"

            The man peered around the bar to see if anyone was listening and then answered quietly, "Down tha' path there.  The Queethan, tha's their hang'n place.  Yu'll find wha'cha need.  Oh, and me's name is Rynan."

            "Okay.  Thanks."  Archer nodded and turned away.  Malcolm and T'Pol followed, Rynan watching the three of them the whole way out.  They set out on the side path mentioned by the bartender and walked for a minute.  The path got very dark all of the sudden, and as they slowly continued they heard loud noises from an alcove ahead, presumably The Queethan, so they stopped to work out their next move.  As they were talking, four young children ran by them, panting and clutching bundles of what looked like bread.  Someone could be heard angrily yelling at the distance, and at that yell all four looked back worriedly and sped onward.  One of them, however, a small gray-skinned girl, stopped when she heard them mention 'Keepers and stood by a wall, catching her breath and listening further.

            T'Pol noticed her presence and told the others too, so that eventually the three were looking down at the girl, who was looking back up at them defiantly.  "You don't want to hire the 'Keepers." She said, sounding very confident in herself.  "They're scum."

            "And what would your name be?  And how do we know we can trust you?" Jon said, keeping a matter-of-fact tone and leaning down so that he was at eyelevel for her.

            "Pip," She replied. "And _everyone_ knows 'Keepers are bad.  They don't do anything unless they can double-cross you and gain profit."

            "Who do you suggest we hire, then?"  T'Pol asked her, moving forward.  Pip eyed her and her belly skeptically, clutched her bread tighter to her chest, and said,

            "The Sithians.  They're good.  And they won't try to kill you."  Jon looked at T'Pol, slightly taken aback at the young girl's knowledge and indifference.

            "Thank you," he said.  Pip just nodded and ran off after her friends.  Everyone immediately realized that they didn't know where to go, but Pip turned around and gave a pointed look to her right, making sure that they saw.  Jon just gave Malcolm a look of _I hope we know what we're getting into_ and set off.

            After winding around stalls for ten minutes while trying to follow the 'path' indicated by the girl, Malcolm stopped Jon and asked T'Pol, " Are you sure she didn't lie to us?  We're getting nowhere fast."

            "No, Lieutenant, she did not lie to us.  She approached us, remember, and she has no reason to lie to us. She also acted as if she had to try hard not to lie.  I suspect she usually lies, but this time she was telling the truth," she replied.  She also sent to Jonathan '_She also seemed to sympathize with my pregnancy and the child, which made her want to help._'  Malcolm gave her a reproachful look, but Jon just nodded and said,

            "Come on Malcolm."  Jon turned back to the path and took two steps before a large alien stepped in front of his path.  "Excuse me," Jon said, slightly miffed but not wanting to get on anyone's bad side.  The alien only replied,

            "You can't go past here."  Jon looked up at his face, which was a good five inches above his own and said,

            "We're here to see the Sithians.  We want to make a deal."  The alien had a pale face with a triangular nose that continued to his cheekbone.  Where his eyebrows would have been were small maroon crests that followed the tops of his eyes and then went down to his nose.  Attached to the 'eyebrows' were six half-inch tall ridges, also maroon, that went to the back of his head.  He looked at Jon, trying to judge his character, and then stepped back and lead them into a small private nook behind two organic stands.  The first alien left them as soon as another three came.  They were all garbed in robes that barely covered their bulk and military equipment.

            "What is your business?"  The tallest one asked.  The other two shrank back partially into the background, carefully watching the threesome.

            Jon was beginning to become a little worried about their current predicament – they were surrounded by warriors in an unfamiliar trading station with Enterprise a good ways away.  He stood up taller and answered, "Are you the Sithians?"

            Malcolm slowly moved so that he was to the left of Jon, at a better angle for protection if it was needed, and with Jon's slight hand signal T'Pol moved back so that she was almost touching the wall.  One of the other aliens reached inside his cloak, and Malcolm immediately had his eyes on him in case he was getting a weapon.

            "Yes, we are."

            "We've heard that your military skill is impressive, and we're considering hiring you."

            "For what would you need our assistance?  We are skilled, but we employ our own regulations and moral code." Jon scrunched up his brow.  He wasn't sure how much information to tell them.  T'Pol sent him reassurances that these people were not trying to trick him and that they were honorable in their intentions, so he replied,

            "We are trying to find a hostile species that attacked our planet.  This part of space if very different from our own and we could use some locals to help us, both in military situations and in navigation."  

The Sithian just nodded.  He started to reply, "Well we…" when his second companion quickly and inconspicuously drew out a small phaser.  Malcolm noticed the movement, however, and immediately realized that he'd been watching the wrong man.  As the alien put his finger on the trigger and pulled, Malcolm crouched down and dove in front of Jon.  As if in slow motion, the beam of energy hit Malcolm square in the chest, and he fell motionless to the floor with a thud.  Jon's face was frozen in terror as he realized what had happened – Malcolm had taken a hit that would have hit Jon near his heart, killing him immediately.  The main Sithian smiled slightly and looked at Jon.

Jon's head whirled for a second, but then his thoughts pounded with rage and betrayal.  He had trusted them, and they'd killed one of his friends and his chief security officer!  For a second time he'd trusted the people of the universe and they'd let him down again.  He vowed not to give any more second chances and to be naïve no longer.  As his eyes started to narrow into slits with anger, the Sithian said,

"Yes, we will accept your offer." Jon was aghast at their insolence.

Then the alien bent down and did something to Malcolm; Jon couldn't tell what because the aliens' body was blocking his view.  A second later, however, Malcolm started to move slightly.  He moaned, and the Sithian reached for his hand and helped him to his feet, steadying him.

"Will you hire us?" he asked.  Jon's brain was reeling from the last five seconds.  T'Pol, however, grasped the situation faster.  She stepped forward and replied,

"Yes.  We will appreciate your help.  We can pay you thirty thousand kilex.  Will that be acceptable?"  While on the Draatic ship, the crew had taken some containers of the region's money.  Jonathan had originally felt badly about it, since it was stealing, but he got over his guilt soon afterward when he realized both how essential it could become and that the Draatic's didn't earn it respectably anyway.

"Of course."  Thirty thousand was quite the respectable amount.  Now Malcolm had joined Jon in both being and looking very confused.

"Wait, what happened?  What did you do and why?"  Jon asked, trying to gain control of the situation once again.

"That phaser was only set on light stun.  We use it as a loyalty test.  If someone's own officers aren't loyal to them then they are not a capable enough leader for us to serve under.  You have fine security officers."

"I take pride in my people and their abilities."

"And they can sense that in you.  That is partially why we are willing to serve under you.  But what was quite impressive was that your… mate?"  He looked at T'Pol, who nodded slightly, "even though she is with child, still tried to move to protect you.  That is the kind of loyalty to which we can easily relate and respect."

"Right…" Jon replied.  He intuitively felt he could trust them somehow – their species were on the same moral and ethical wavelength, even though at first glance the two were very different.  "Well, would you like to come aboard our ship so we can work out the details?  Oh, and I almost forgot.  I'm Captain Jonathan Archer.  This is Sub-Commander T'Pol, and that's Lieutenant Malcolm Reed," he said, pointing out each of them.

The Sithian nodded and replied, "I am Grand Hines."

"And I am Par-Grand Isces," the second Sithian said.  The third one sauntered back into the shadows, evidently just there to help in for the first meeting.

*          *            *            *            *

            "Your ship is very different from any I have seen before, Captain." Grand Hines said, looking around as the Captain escorted him and Par-Grand Isces back to the airlock.  The Sithians were going to round up their Soldiers and dock with Enterprise so that the two ships could go further into the Expanse.

            "Well I'm not surprised considering we're the first humans to get this far into space.  T'Pol is Vulcan, though.  You might have seen some Vulcan ships."

            "Yes, I have.  I thought she was a Vulcan.  She was much more cordial than the other few I have encountered." 

_'I guess that's good,'_ Jon thought.  The three of them came to the airlock and the two sithians stepped through.  The Par-Grand turned and said,

"Captain, you should tell your helmsman… Ensign Mayweather?" Jon nodded, impressed that he already knew some of the crew's names. "That to break orbit from the station you must be at exactly warp 2.718.  Otherwise you will just slingshot back."

"Thanks.  We appreciate that." The aliens departed, and Jon turned around and walked down the corridor shaking his head and thinking, _'What a weird place.'_

Cont.


	9. Secrets of a Sort

Hold Me Through

By: Keleshnar

Disclaimer: Not mine.  Unfortunately, it's that simple.

Spoilers: extremely small ones to "Stigma"

Rating: PG-13 (this chapter is mild PG-13)

A/N: I'm starting a new thing this chapter, perhaps for now on in the story.  This chapter's words are rose and music.  If you're curious about this, want to suggest a word, etc., just drop me a line.  Oh, I used the Vulcan Language Dictionary and the Vulcan Language Guide ( and ) as references to parts of the story, and I also made up both T'Pol's teacher and the Denobulan god.  Three more things:  1) I know I'm terrible at updating, but please have pity on me 2) Review, please.  Feed an author.  3) Betas are good!  Thanks Monica!  Anyway, now to the story…

Chapter Nine: Secrets of a Sort

            "Well, I think I'll head to the mess hall.  Malcolm, you have the bridge until I get back," Jon said as he stood up, stretched, and headed for the turbolift.  Jon nodded in acknowledgement to the Sithian guard as he got on the 'lift and pushed the button for C Deck.  Grand Hines had suggested having his crew rotate around the ship in security positions to familiarize themselves with Enterprise's crew and the way she was run, at least for the first few weeks.  So far their agreement had worked out very well.  Some of the crew had even mentioned that the Sithians seemed to fit in socially, making it very agreeable on both sides.  Enterprise had avoided two dangerous anomalies, too, because Grand Hines forewarned the Captain of the anomalies' positions.

            Jon walked down the hall, wondering whether T'Pol was already eating.  It was well after their normal lunchtime, so he was sure she was starving even though she'd had a snack a few hours before.  In the last week, her appetite had grown considerably.  Dr. Phlox said that it was a normal and healthy development, but it was a little disconcerting for anyone who watched her.

            They had both purposely taken lunch late again, hoping that they could finally go see the Doctor today.  Jon felt nervous but excited about the visit.  As he walked into the mess hall, he saw T'Pol put her tray on a table in the back of the room and carefully slip into the seat.  Only two other crewmen were in the mess hall at this hour, and they weren't paying any obvious attention to the Captain and Sub-Commander.  He smiled, got himself some food, and joined her.

            _'I was wondering when you would come,'_ she sent to him.

            "Well, I'm here now." He replied aloud.  It still took a lot of concentration for him to reply back to her mentally, so he tended to just responded verbally.

            As they began to eat, Jon noticed what she was having – plomeek soup, and peanut butter… _again_.  That was her constant craving recently.  She had been eating so much peanut butter lately, and in such vast quantities, that Chef had asked her to only take a spoonful or so per sitting so that she didn't eat it all in two months or less.  T'Pol looked up when she noticed Jon staring at her, her spoon on its way to her mouth, and gave him a look that said 'What?' along with her famous arched eyebrow.  He just shook his head in amusement.

            A few minutes later, they were finishing up their lunches in silence when Jon heard, or rather, felt, T'Pol's sudden but slight intake of breath.  She also immediately put her left hand onto her stomach.  Jon moved his chair around so that he was sitting directly next to T'Pol.  He took her hand in his and placed them both on her abdomen, waiting for the next kick of their unborn child.  As the next kicks came, they felt their love through their mutual gaze as they stared at each other while connecting to their child.

            The child had been a late kicker and didn't kick too often, but he/she really seemed to like peanut butter, because whenever T'Pol ate peanut butter, there would be a 'kicking spell'.  It had become sort of a ritual for the two of them to sit there through the kicking, one of each of their hands on T'Pol's stomach, and just let go of their thoughts.  Jon looked at her and smiled, and T'Pol looked right back and gave as close to a smile as she would in public.

            After their child had stopped kicking, they finished their meals.  Jon took their trays and put them in the dirty dish shelve while T'Pol worked on standing up and heading to the door.  The two other crewmen had already left, so Jon went to the comm. unit by the door and called for the Doctor.

            "Archer to Phlox."

            "Phlox here, Captain.  Sickbay is free and I am expecting you," Phlox said, knowing what Jon's question would be.

            "Thanks, Doc.  We'll be there soon.  Archer out." 

*          *            *            *            *

            When Jon and T'Pol entered sickbay, Dr. Phlox came out of his office with a wide grin on his face – not the scary-looking grin, just a happy-looking grin.  Jon helped T'Pol onto a biobed, where she let out a long and slightly frustrated sigh. '_I am not fond of the restrictions associated with having large bulk.'_ She thought.  Jon heard part of it and laughed.  The Doctor just eyed them and ignored them – he knew enough about their bond not to ask.

            As the Captain helped T'Pol get fully settled and comfortable, Phlox went over to one of his workstations and picked up two test tubes full of liquid and poured them both into a glass container that looked sort of like a beaker.  He stirred them together, and then brought the container over to T'Pol.  She looked at it warily, as it was filled with an opaque, slightly green liquid.

            "Drink up!" the Doctor said. "It probably will not taste very good though, sorry; the flavoring I have been trying is not working very well."  He was referring to the other serums that he had been making recently for T'Pol from the plant with high levels of trilithium that had been found on a planet they'd passed.  Jon hadn't been with her when she'd taken the other experimental medicines, but she'd reported that they helped her Pa'Nar symptoms significantly.

            T'Pol nodded, took a deep breath as if to prepare herself, and then drank the odd-looking liquid as fast as she could.  She squeezed her eyes shut as if trying to hold her repugnance in, and then made a slightly disgusted yet controlled face as she handed the glass back to Dr. Phlox.  Jon grinned, amused at her obvious dislike for the taste.

            "Grape flavoring's not very good, huh?" he said, both joking and trying to distract her from the unpleasant taste.  He succeeded – she arched her eyebrow in question, and he explained.

            "All of the little-kid liquid medicines, which was basically every medicine because you can't swallow pills as a kid, taste horrible when they're not flavored.   Flavorings were added to many of them, and some still tasted bad, though others were better.  Grape was by far the best type."

            "Oh," she commented simply.  She couldn't help but add on something else in her mind, though, which she mentally sent to Jonathan.  '_Most Vulcan children can swallow pills easily.  Interesting.'_

            '_Ha ha.'_ He sent back sarcastically.

            Phlox put the glass away and brought back a device that looked like a hypospray to collect a sample of blood from T'Pol to run tests on.  T'Pol tipped her head to the side so that Phlox could easily access her neck, and there was a little whoosh as the device began to draw the blood needed.  As he took the device away and put the sample of blood next to one of his analysis machines, he nodded and said, "All done… Now, would you like to know the gender of your child, since you've both been dying to find out for a while, I presume."

            Jonathan smiled at the thought of finally knowing more about their child, and nodded.  T'Pol was slightly perplexed about the particular euphemism the Doctor used, but it did seem fitting, as she was very eager to find out the gender of the child she had been carrying for over half a year.

            '_Half a year…'_ she thought as the reality of those words sank in.  '_It has been so enjoyable and gone by so fast.'_ Jonathan saw her wistful face and reached out to hold and lightly squeeze her hand in excitement, the grin still very evident on his face.  The Doctor, meanwhile, was shuffling around, looking for the chromosome analysis of the baby.  He found it a minute later in his office.  He walked out to the couple, who were both now sitting on the biobed holding hands, looked at the sheet, and smiled his biggest smile yet as he announced,

            "Captain, Sub-Commander, congratulations!  You're going to have a son!"

*          *            *            *            *

            Those few words had more power than Jon had imagined.  He suddenly felt like he was floating a few feet in the air, but at the same time he had an exciting, pleasant tingly feeling all throughout him.  It was as if his whole body had fallen asleep and he was pressing himself to the ground so that he felt the pins and needles, except it was joyous.  '_Son,'_ he thought. '_A _s_on…'_ he couldn't wait to see his baby boy out of the womb!  His relationship with his father had been very deep, and he treasured it immensely, so he couldn't wait to begin forming such a relationship with his own son.

            He looked to T'Pol and saw two things – that she was very serene and also that she was holding in her feelings.  He mentally urged her to share her feelings while he took his hand out of hers and initiated the Vulcan embrace that T'Pol had taught him, caressing her first two fingers with his own.  There was a pause on her 'end of the line,' as it were, and then he felt a shockwave of her feelings, which were soon joined and strengthened by his.  Neither of them could name all of the emotions that were intermixed, but love, joy, and happiness were very prominent.

            Dr. Phlox got out the ultrasound machine and showed Jon and T'Pol the first images of their son.  The two were alternating between holding hands and doing the Vulcan hand embrace.  Both of their eyes widened in excitement when they felt him kick and also saw him do so on the ultrasound screen.  Dr. Phlox let them just enjoy looking at their son and was moving the ultrasound 'stick' around on T'Pol's belly.  T'Pol was silently talking to herself as the Dr. showed them different views. '_Yes, there's his leg, his foot, his five tiny toes… a hand, another hand… yes, it's certainly a boy…'_

She had seen other ultrasounds of unborn children in her science courses and in her outside life, but those all seemed so average, different.  This was special and unique.  Her son.  She suddenly understood all of the slightly Pollyanna human sayings about children: "children are the hope of the future," "the dreams of children today are the reality of tomorrow," and the like.  The life of her child was the most precious thing to her now, and she knew that she would do everything in her power to make his life richer and to keep his hope for the future alive.

            Once Phlox was finished with the ultrasound and saved a copy of the ultrasound video to both officers' personal files, he declared that their child was as healthy as could be expected.  He also mentioned that he still had to check the blood sample T'Pol just gave to check up on an odd protein that was in the last sample she'd given.  T'Pol also heard him say he'd contact them in about half an hour after he'd completed his test.  Jonathan was already bounding out the doors of sickbay as Phlox finished talking to T'Pol, childlike in his joy, which reflected the cause of his excitement.  T'Pol's amusement at his buoyant mood was visible only through her eyes as she walked in a stately manner down the corridor after him.   

*          *            *            *            *

            They only met a few people on their trip from sickbay to Jon's quarters.  Near the lift on E deck, Jon passed Par-Grand Isces, who looked surprised and watched the Captain warily, like one would a mad dog.  Isces seemed to show relieved comprehension when Jon yelled, "It's a boy!" as he turned the corner to the turbolift.  Jon waited there at the 'lift for T'Pol, his cheeks a little rose-colored from the adrenalin and the embarrassment.

            Right after the 'lift doors opened up on C deck, Jon saw Malcolm and Hoshi headed toward them, talking.  As soon as Hoshi saw him (T'Pol was still behind the corner), she greeted him with, "Hi Captain."

            "Hi, Hoshi, Malcolm." Jon replied.

            "Sir," came Malcolm's formal hello.  Jon then realized that Malcolm, the person supposedly in charge of the bridge right now, was walking around the halls.  His face showed his confusion, and Malcolm replied before the Captain could even get the actual question out of his mouth.

            "We just changed shifts, sir.  Adjustment schedule?"  Jon nodded his confirmation to the question; he had just remembered that the crew would be rotating positions somewhat along with the Sithians to give everyone more experience in different positions.  That, too, had been the Grand's idea.

            While the two men were conversing, Hoshi saw T'Pol and moved over to talk to her.  Hoshi wasn't sure what it was, but she could just tell that something was up with the older woman.  "Ma'am?" she asked, knowing that T'Pol would understand her true question.  T'Pol cleared her throat just in the slightest to answer, purely by accident, but it were as if someone at a dinner party had 'clanged' their fork on a cup to silence everyone for a toast.  All three people immediately turned their attentions to her.  T'Pol put her hands behind her back, unconsciously emphasizing her belly, hid a smile in her eyes, and declared,

            "Our child is going to be a boy."  Suddenly there was a lot of happy chatter going between the four.  Hoshi was (carefully) hugging T'Pol in congratulations, and Malcolm was shaking hands with Jon and talking about being a father.  Jon knew that Malcolm's relationship with his father was pretty estranged, so he didn't want to press the subject too much.  Malcolm knew, however, how important a figure Jon's father was in the Captain's life, and also how great a father the Captain would make.  When Malcolm told Jon this, Jon simply broke into a wide grin and thanked him while silently replaying the words in his own head.  Father.  God, it sounded like music to his ears.  Beautiful, tear-jerking music.

            Just as the two groups were on their way again – as T'Pol commented, they didn't want to keep Malcolm and Hoshi from their next post – Hoshi turned around and called back to Jon, "Oh, Captain.  Admiral Forrest sent a message for you.  I had it forwarded to your quarters."

            "Thanks, Hoshi."  T'Pol could feel some unsettlement coming over Jonathan and arched her eyebrow in question as they walked toward his quarters.  He turned to her outside his door and said, "I still haven't told Forrest about our child."  He opened the door and motioned for her to go first, continuing the conversation as they entered.  Porthos barked and ran over to them in greeting, but was ignored except for a small pat on the head by Jon.

            "Have you told Soval or your parents yet?"  He didn't think she had, and his thoughts were confirmed when she shook her head.

            "I have not been able to think of the appropriate way to phrase the message."  She said.  That basically summed up how Jon felt, too.  There were so many wrong ways to write it, and evidently neither one of them had come up with the right way.  "We shall have to do it soon, however," she continued.  "Or otherwise we will have to explain why there is suddenly another crew member on board."

            He nodded in acquiescence and then changed to a much more pleasant topic, making a mental note to send the daunting message to Forrest soon.  "So, have you been thinking about any names?" Jon asked.  T'Pol paused in thought, during which time Jon playfully picked up Porthos and whispered to him, "You're 'gonna have a nephew, Porthos!  What do you think about that, huh?"  The beagle just barked happily and wagged his tail.

            Once Jon put his dog back on the floor, where he contentedly ran around their feet, T'Pol mentally asked him not to take any offense to her statement and said, "I was hoping he could have a Vulcan first name."

            Jon thought about it for a second, and then replied, "That's fine with me, as long as you don't mind if he keeps the Archer surname."  With that major decision crossed surprisingly easily, Jon walked over to his bed, where T'Pol was sitting, and sat down next to her. "Were you thinking of any particular names?"

            She looked down for a minute, reflecting, then let Jon in on her thoughts.  "When we were looking at the ultrasound, I thought of the name T'Kez.  It is the male version of the name of one of my mentors on Vulcan, whose name was T'Cesh.  She was a strong woman, very admirable and smart."  She didn't tell Jonathan the rest of what she had been thinking – when she had seen her son moving and kicking inside her, she _had_ thought of her old mentor, but two Vulcan words had also come to her mind.  She wasn't sure why she thought of them, but once she had she knew somehow that they would fit her son and his life.  The words were ket'es and sha'es or in English, "integrity" and "identity or individuality."  She didn't share this part with Jonathan, though, because she knew he wouldn't be able to fully understand the underlying meaning of the words.  She had a feeling that because of his origins, T'Kez's sha'es would be viewed negatively by other people, especially Vulcans.

            Jon smiled, though, and said, "I think that's a great name.  I like it."  

He moved closer to her to caress the side of her face, and then delicately traced a line with his fingers down her neck and chest to her swollen abdomen.  T'Pol's insides started to flutter and she moved forward to first take his face in her hands and then kiss him.  First it was light, purely a joyful celebration of their son, but it soon turned more heated with very intimate kisses and tongues exploring each other while their minds danced in sync.  Jon tore his mouth away from hers and moved down to her neck, leaving a trail of kisses.  He moved even lower and caressed her breasts lightly, which were swollen because of the pregnancy, and grinned slightly when he heard her low moan.  He grinned even more as his head went down and met her mouth, the passion of the embrace searing both of them.

"Phlox to Captain Archer." They both jerked from the sudden noise, and Jon's head snapped up.  He looked at T'Pol, who was breathing heavily, and carefully helped her to a sitting position before answering the comm. 

"Archer here, Doc." Jon was breathing deeply, trying to catch his breath after his 'romantic exercise.'  He felt like a teenager being caught in his bedroom with his girlfriend by his parents.  If Phlox noticed his erratic breathing rate, though, he didn't let on.

Phlox waited a few seconds without saying anything, as if thinking of the best way to deliver the news, and gave the couple time to refocus their attention.  

When Phlox didn't continue, T'Pol gave Jonathan a slightly worried look.  "Doctor, what is it?" she asked, worry apparent in her voice.  A solemn mood fell over Jon and T'Pol, and they knew the news wasn't good.

Finally Phlox spoke.  "I wanted to tell over the comm system so you could have the privacy you'll probably need," Another pause. "T'Pol, Captain, I'm afraid I have bad news…" he sighed a deep, sad sigh. "When I compared the gene sample I took today with my previous one, I confirmed an abnormality I hoped to Trisnak was a mistake."  He heard the horrified gasp coming from the other end of the comm line and quickly went on.

"It's not fatal, don't worry.  But it certainly won't help his position."

"Position?" Jon whispered in question and continued in his thoughts, 'W_hy 'position' and not 'condition'?'_

T'Pol's face looked as if it were made of stone.  She had a terrible feeling that she knew what the problem might be linked to, so she asked Phlox, "Does it have to do with the Pa'Nar Syndrome?"

He cleared his throat and said, "No… not directly.  I believe it was caused by the trilithium medicine that I formed and gave you from that plant."  The plant she had found, and the medicine she had willingly taken, even though no one knew if there would be side effects. "The medicine _has_ significantly reigned in the Pa'Nar Syndrome in both of you, but it stemmed another reaction in him."

"What _is_ it, Doctor!"  Jon almost yelled.  He couldn't bear the anxiety and stress of being in limbo about his child's condition.

There was a final pause from sickbay, and then "In response to the Pa'Nar Syndrome and its medicine, your son has manipulated his genes to better deal with what is happening to him.  In doing this, he has become capable of forming mind-melds."

Jon understood somewhat what this meant because of his experience with the Vulcans at the Interspecies Medical Exchange conference on Dekendii III, but when he looked at T'Pol he realized that this had worse implications than he thought.  Her eyes were watering from the fear showing in them, and Jon knew that he needed to take her in his arms and comfort her, even if he didn't totally understand why.  He thanked the Doctor and closed the comm. connection and went over to her, cradling her and rocking back and forth a little.  She just held on like a small scared child and wept inside.  Tears were pouring through their mental connection, and Jon added to that through actual tears that fell onto her hair.  He wiped them away and kissed her cheek lovingly, whispering "I love you" into her ear.

She circled her stomach with her hand, held on tighter than ever, and sent to him, _'Yana wanimo mene itisha_1_.'_

*          *            *            *            *

            They stayed like that for a good half hour, just holding onto each other and comforting each other.  T'Kez started to kick again, as if he were trying to communicate with his parents and comfort them as well.  Eventually they both got up from their positions and started to write the dreaded letters to Admiral Forrest and Soval, respectively.  Certain parts were left out of those letters, of course, but T'Pol couldn't help but dwell on them as she wrote – how her child would be despised and rejected by almost all Vulcans now, how her decisions affected her child, how she regretted some of those decisions, but most of all how even through it all, she felt that he was the best thing that she had ever created or done, and that she would stand up for and by her family no matter what happened.  And she knew Jonathan would do the exact same.

Cont…

  


* * *

1 "You are my life"


	10. Miracles Happen

Hold Me Through

By: Keleshnar

Disclaimer: Eh, I still don't own Enterprise.

A/N: The title of this chapter was borrowed from the Bee Gee's song of the same name (and what'd you know, I don't own that either). The song gives a good feel for the atmosphere in the climatic point in this chapter, so go listen if you want. Just a reminder – in this story S3 doesn't exist! Oh, after this chapter there will be a pause in posting until I write the last stage (this pause might actually be short compared to what you've been so patiently enduring recently. Thanks and sorry!), but once I have I'll post them all pretty rapidly so that the drama of the conclusion can take its full effect (dum dum dum…). This chapter's words are 'wish' and 'myriad', and thanks a bunch to Angie for betaing this. And sorry if some of the formatting is off; I fix it in the 'QuickEdit' feature, and then it doesn't show up groan. Oh well. So, enjoy and please review!

If you didn't read my half-chapter/side story, you can find it under my profile (link not working, argh!). It expands a section of this chapter and gets the reader into the Sithians' shoes better.

Chapter Ten: Miracles Happen

"They're still not responding to out hails, Sir," a frustrated Hoshi said. They had been trying to contact these people for nearly half an hour, and the Captain had been putting her and her skills under an uncomfortable pressure.

She looked up to see the Captain's reaction, which was stubborn determination, and bent back down over her console with her left hand pressing on her left ear to keep her ear bud firmly in place in case of any response. '_You'd think they'd respond out of pure annoyance just to try to get us to leave them alone!'_ she thought.

"Rephrase it again, Hoshi. More politeness and finesse – we just want to talk now," The Captain told her, standing up from his chair and walking over to her station. Hoshi almost snickered at the last part of his comment – they were getting desperate and downplayed their pleas to just talking instead of visiting the planet or trading.

While she paused in thought before sending another message down to the planet, she realized that she'd become much more stressed and easily annoyed lately. The atmosphere on the bridge was just so tense recently. One main reason was because T'Pol had been officially been taken off-duty and put on maternity leave by Dr. Phlox a few days ago. The loss of her evidently comforting presence on the bridge made the Captain more uptight and anxious. Hoshi had noticed that he glanced up at the science station, currently occupied by Ensign Carter, a few times an hour to see if T'Pol had somehow magically appeared there. It was sort of sweet, she thought, even though her mood suffered.

Another reason for the tenseness, possibly equally as large, was their mission. There had been very few leads on finding the Xindi, so when a reliable break came through and Enterprise headed towards the section of space described by the informant, everyone was nervous and anxious. Hoshi didn't know exactly where the information came from, which certainly didn't erase her fears, but she suspected the Sithians had something to do with it. She was suspicious at first why an alien race would help them so willingly, but a conversation she'd had with the Par-Grand a few days before had put it to rest.

They'd been in the mess hall, chatting over their lunches, and she was struck by his honest yearning to find out more about Humans and Human culture. There was just something in the way he tried so thoroughly to figure out exactly what she meant when she explained the reasons for certain customs and behaviors. Granted, Par-Grand Isces was more interested in becoming acquainted with Enterprise's crew than the rest of the Sithians, but many other members of the Sithian crew had put forth efforts towards friendship as well.

So she typed carefully, sent the message back down to the planet, and waited. Everyone on the bridge seemed to be waiting, hoping silently, for a reply. There was a whoosh from the turbolift doors opening, and T'Pol quietly walked over to her station. She would come up the bridge a few times a day, both to keep herself occupied and to make sure everything was still up to her high standards during her leave of absence. Hoshi saw the Captain turn his head slightly in recognition when she entered. Instantaneously his features relaxed significantly, as well as everyone else's.

Grand Hines spoke up during the silence, re-iterating what he had said before Enterprise had started hailing the planet. "Like I said, Captain. The Reckaux are a finicky race. They don't like to have any contact outside..." A beep from Hoshi's console, signifying an incoming message, interrupted him. Immediately all conversation was forgotten as the Captain nodded to Hoshi and she put the message onscreen.

A humanoid-ish face appeared there, pausing to take in the view on the other ship before beginning to speak. His skin was a medium hue of sea green, but there were what looked almost like veins snaking all across his face in patterns of a dark teal color. He had short, tawny hair covering the back top of his head, and his eyes were orange with flecks of burnt umber and red in the center surrounding an elliptical pupil. There were also gill-like structures along the lower part of his cheeks, except that they looked like they were just a trait that evolution had accidentally not bred out, like the human tailbone. His neck was longer than that of humans, and that, added to his tight posture, gave him an air of dignity, power, and annoyance.

When he finally spoke, his face contorted into a look of suspicion, and he asked, "Why are the Sithians docked with you?" Archer paused for a second in surprise; evidently the Sithians were more widely known mercenaries than he guessed. He now partially understood the Reckaux's initial suspicion, but still hoped that they would be more amiable soon. If Earth were a trading planet, as the Grand told him Reckatia was, he certainly wouldn't want an unknown, armed species landing without an explanation.

Grand Hines had told him before the attempted contact that the Reckaux were an extremely private species, but they were excellent traders with many rare goods. The few times he'd been allowed down on the planet, he said, they carefully monitored how much of their world foreigners saw. They also had sophisticated scanning and detection devices, according to Hines, so that threats could be determined and strategies thought out ahead of time. So Jon wasn't totally surprised when T'Pol, who had replaced Ensign Carter for the time being, said,

"Captain, they're scanning us… I don't recognize some of these scanning spectrums." Jon just looked up at the view screen, trying to judge the reaction of the Reckaux leader. There was no real change in his expression, only the dry reply,

"Yes, you'll find that we have quite superior…" but he trailed off and looked down when there was a small beep from one of his consoles, evidently signaling the completion of the scans. He suddenly looked up, directly at T'Pol, with an expression Jon couldn't decipher. Archer didn't like it and could feel the 'need to protect' rising from his stomach. Because of this feeling, he tried to initiate a business conversation, however Pollyanna, to distract the alien from T'Pol.

"So, now that you know so much about us, could we discuss a trade agreement?"

Jon was successful in more ways than he hoped, because the Reckaux focused his attention back on Jon and replied, in what sort of seemed like mock shock or hurt,

"Trade agreement? Of course, I look forward to discussing the terms down on the planet. We will meet you at your designated landing dock in two hours." Jon thought the Reckau's assumption of compliance was a little cocky, but as captain he was willing to deal with a little cockiness to get the job done. "The necessary information, including conditions, is currently being sent to you," he added, motioning to an off-screen officer. "If you will not accept our conditions of landing, then there will be no possibility of a trade agreement" he finished, promptly cutting off the transmission as he finished speaking.

Jon glanced at Grand Hines and the Hoshi, looking for an explanation of the weird behavior. He got equally perplexed expressions from both. '_That was a very rapid, odd change in demeanor!'_ he concentrated and sent to T'Pol. She mentally nodded in agreement.

"The coordinates and information are through, Sir," Hoshi said. As she skimmed them quickly, her brow wrinkled and she added, "You should come see this…" Jon quickly complied and walked over to her station. He read it over her shoulder as she looked up at him questioningly, and then looked up at Hines, who cam a few paces closer to the two.

"They have some _interesting_ landing party restrictions," Jon said with slight distain. "Here: there can be no more than three Sithians, no more than ten people in total can come, and T'Pol must be one of those ten." As he finished he looked directly at T'Pol, and they shared a surprised and slightly worried glance and thought. T'Pol thought she also sensed some jealousy, which didn't make any logical sense to her at all. Then another odd point came to mind, which she vocalized.

"They mentioned me by name?" If they had, then their technology was truly quite impressive to be able to sort through their databanks so quickly.

"Well, not actually by name," Jon replied. "But they require that the pregnant alien be on the landing party." In his head he added, '_I don't like that…'_

"Maybe they want to distinguish such a person. You saw how he looked at her…" Hines added, trying somewhat to defend the Reckaux's intentions. His comment wasn't exactly comforting to the Captain, though, and Jon's hard but momentary gaze told the Sithian that the 'extra attention' had _definitely_ been noticed.

After a long sigh, Jon asked rhetorically, "How bad do we need this information?" They all knew that without outside help in the form of coordinates or information, their mission would be irreparably stuck. "How reliable are they again?" he redirected to Hines, after a moment of anxious silence on the bridge. Jon was put more and more trust into their interspecies relationship, and it was holding solidly.

"I have never heard of any unsatisfied customers of the Reckaux, no matter what the goods received were. That's why their prices are so exorbitantly high – you get what you pay for." Hines had previously warned Archer about this too. Jon just hoped that Enterprise had enough goods on her worth trading.

Jon hated to even be thinking about complying with such worrisome terms, but Earth's survival might depend on that information. He looked at T'Pol and asked, sending love and caring through their bond to make sure she didn't misinterpret his meaning, "If Phlox clears this, are you okay with it?" T'Pol thought about it quickly, weighing the possibilities and risks, and nodded, unconsciously putting a hand on her abdomen.

* * *

Less than two hours later, T'Pol had been okayed for the journey, a team had been assembled, and they were on their way down to the planet in shuttlepods one and two. Jon and T'Pol, who had only been told by Phlox to not push herself too hard and to sit a bit, were obviously in the group, as well as three Sithians, Commander Tucker, Ensign Sato, an armory officer and two navigation officers. Par-Grand Isces along with two of their top soldiers were the Sithians that had come; evidently in Sithian culture the second-in-command went on the missions while the leader 'held down the fort,' as it were, and ran things from there. Jon thought it was an interesting concept, one that would undoubtedly keep the leader from harm but would take most of the fun out of the job.

As the two pods entered the ionosphere, everyone looked around curiously to see what the planet would look like. It was hard to see anything until they got past the mesosphere into the stratosphere, because of the many layers of very high-up cloud type coverings, which T'Pol found quite interesting and was able to get a few readings on. Once those layers had been passed, however, the vibrant planet of Reckatia came into view. There were three continents visible at that moment, and one large island off the coast of the biggest continent. Most of the land they could see was a dark teal color, presumably from the vegetation, and the oceans were a deep midnight blue. Once the pods got closer to their landing site on the large island, they could distinguish more varied colors – the teal trees were mixed in with a few lighter, more limey-colored ones, and there were many places where the teal stopped and gray and red structures, presumably buildings and civilization, appeared. The most southern continent was still visible as they descended, and it was more of a tan color than the others, appearing to be made up of more desert and savanna type climates. There were still splotches of comparatively rich colored cities, but fewer than where the shuttlepods were landing. As the landing sequences culminated and the pods touched down lightly with a swirl or two of dust, T'Pol noticed that the local ground was a light brown color, probably composed of a sand like material with some decomposed organic elements in it.

Jon opened the door to his shuttlepod and looked around, squinting slightly from the light. He could definitely see how the Reckaux got used to privacy – those abundant thin layers of clouds and the small dust ring around the entire planet prevented views of the planet from space, but the surface was still very bright and protected. Looking toward the other pod, Jon saw Trip getting out and stretching his legs a little before walking over to where Jon was now standing, followed by Hoshi and the Par-Grand. Soon the whole part was out in the sunlight and eagerly looking at their surroundings.

A Reckaux was walking toward them from the center doors of a group of reddish-brown buildings about 100 meters away. Trip squinted to try to seem him clearer, and commented to T'Pol, who was standing near him,

"With that skin color, do you think they're plants?" He was partly joking, referring to the similarity of color between the vegetation and the native's skin. T'Pol's dry stare accompanied with a slight eyebrow raise gave him her unamused opinion. '_Fine, you're the science officer…'_ he thought to himself with a half smile.

When the Reckau was about 25 m away, close enough so that most of the details of his person could be made out, Hoshi noted with interest his garb. He seemed to be a little shorter than the average human, and his tawny hair looked much lighter in the direct sunlight. His robe was sort of like T'Pol's current one, with a dark fabric with a sheen to it used as most of the material for the robe except for stripes of taupe down the inside of the arms and plaited down the outer corner of each leg.

As the Reckau stopped a meter in front of the group, he said, "I'm glad you were agreeable to our terms." His countenance seemed reserved until he spotted T'Pol, holding onto Jon for support while standing. Then his face changed to a more relaxed, contented expression, save when he glanced briefly at the Sithians holding their weapons. "I'm Prime Minister Durse," he turned briefly to T'Pol. "I am very glad you could join us while you're experiencing one of the most wonderful terms of life. Perhaps you would be willing to share you experiences with some of our women? It truly is not an opportunity to miss. Anyhow," he continued, when T'Pol made an uncommitted nod of her head. "Please follow me." And with that he turned around and headed toward the cluster of buildings, motioning briefly with his hand.

Isces turned to Hoshi and commented, "I had not heard of their apparent celebration of pregnancy. Interesting, no?" Hoshi agreed, nodding, and they walked toward the doors.

When the group was at the thick brick-colored double doors leading into the building, two guards came forward from the sides and firmly stated, "No weapons inside the compound," and held out their hands to receive the various weaponry. The Sithians shared glances of distrust; it was their job to protect. When no one else eagerly gave up their weapons either, Prime Minister Durse made a noise of slight impatience and turned to face the aliens.

"Here," he said, motioning to the Sithians. "You may keep you weapons, just give us the ammunition." Evidently this was a safe community if people could see a gun and not even think twice, knowing that it would be unloaded. The Sithians begrudgingly complied, knowing that they had no other choice. Then, Durse turned to the Humans and added, "I'll need your phasers, too. Our city is a very safe place, so weapons won't be needed, and you shan't be harmed. Especially with such a special member in your group." He nodded toward T'Pol as indication of the last part of his comment, soliciting a few still confused glances and an uncomfortable feeling radiating from T'Pol. Durse did not notice these, however, because he had turned and walked through the now open doors. Jon just wished this usual custom of theirs would be fully explained. He planned to ask about it as soon as the opportunity arose, because he could sense T'Pol's disconcertion from all of the attention. She mentally thanked him for this, and he smiled as the group made their way into the open courtyard inside the building.

It appeared that the doors they had just come through were the main entrance to a walled city, not a large building. There were many buildings interconnected along the edges of said wall, with an open courtyard in the middle. About three hundred meters away and a little to the right were some free standing merchant stands in front of smaller buildings. All of the buildings had either reddish planking or a gray stone used as their building material. The doors to all of the near entrances had gray columns supporting a small cover over the door. On top of that bit of roof was a dull bronze plaque with curvy designs across them, presumably the name of the building in the native language. It was a very picturesque scene. The courtyard's ground was of the natural sand-soil, with benches and trimmed teal shrubberies and trees landscaped simply in clumps. There were many Reckaux in the area; buying goods from the stands, entering and exiting the buildings, strolling through the courtyard, chatting. In one section of the area there were about 10 children running, playing and laughing while their parents watched them and talked.

'_The Prime Minister was right,_' Jon thought to himself. '_It is very peaceful.'_

'_You are right'_ T'Pol picked up on his thought and replied, startling Jon. He could feel her mentally laughing at him, gently amused. The whole setting was starting to affect Jon, and he relaxed.

* * *

Durse gave them a sort of tour of the vicinity, being extremely gracious to the visitors. Isces kept on commenting about this to Hoshi – it was extraordinarily rare for aliens to see a Reckaux city, much less get a tour of it from the Prime Minister of Foreign Affairs, which turned out to be Durse's full title. As they later learned, it was all because of T'Pol.

Jon asked about their culture's custom of honoring pregnant women, and the Prime Minister eagerly tried to help the visitors understand one of the core customs of their society. He explained how pregnancy, the process of physically giving life to another being, is thought of as the highest stage of life possible. When a Reckau becomes pregnant, she immediately becomes part of 'higher class,' sort of, and is treated as if she's above the other people. He had a little trouble explaining this part, and he could see from their faces that they immediately thought of some of the ways this freely given power might be abused. At one point a pregnant Reckaux woman, later introduced as Taelnia, came up to the group because she had heard their conversation, and she tried to help explain. Her actual explanation wasn't much clearer than his had been, but the way Durse acted once she was there helped show them what he meant.

As soon as she had walked up, he had become much less vocal and let her do most of the explaining, as well as hold the attention of the group, as if he and his opinion had suddenly become of little importance. He obviously respected and looked up to everything that she did. To see a Prime Minister suddenly and naturally act that way around a person showed Archer and his group how deeply this unusual though courteous custom was ingrained in their society.

With this cultural different explained as best as possible, Durse started to lead the group around the area a little more. Jon now understood Durse's original behavior toward T'Pol. He still felt slightly guilty, though, at using her and their child to gain a trade agreement. In response, T'Pol mentally reassured him and told him that the Reckaux did not see it that way at all and were just happy to be able to share part of another's 'time of joy,' as she put it.

While the rest of the group walked around a little more, T'Pol sat down on a bench with Taelnia to talk a little longer. T'Pol was feeling a little tired from all of the walking, so it felt good to just sit and chat for a little while. She found it very interesting that even though Reckaux women were almost worshiped during pregnancy, there was no culturally favored gender. Also, most families did not have over three children, another thing T'Pol would not have expected from a culture like this. The Reckaux clearly knew that too much of a good thing isn't good at all.

Taelnia became very excited when she learned that this was T'Pol's first child, grinning with happiness for the other woman; Taelnia was pregnant with her second child. She talked about her first child, a girl named Kira, and pointed her out from the other playing children. Afterwards, T'Pol felt very happy and excited. She was now very much looking forward to being a mother and seeing T'Kez.

T'Pol had noticed some interesting physical changes between Taelnia and the other women nearby, presumably because of her pregnancy. Besides bulging in the normal humanoid places, Taelnia's skin had taken on a maroon color, especially in the veins on her head, and her hair was quite a bit darker than other Reckaux's. She looked very beautiful, and extremely joyful.

After a few more minutes of touring, the group, now including T'Pol, went into one of the conference and meeting buildings. Durse led them through a hallway into a medium sized room, with many gray, cushy, and low-set armchairs around the edges. Two taller chairs were facing each other in the middle of the room with a small table in between them, obviously there for the bargaining leaders. Captain Archer and Prime Minister Durse sat in those chairs, and the others sat down too, waiting for the haggling to begin. T'Pol, however had a little trouble sitting down in the chairs because of her bulk. Trip, who had already sat down next to her, stood up to help her, but she just waved him off, annoyed at her inability and not willing to receive help. Two other Reckaux had seen her and come to help her as well, but they didn't fare any better. After another failed attempt to sit down gracefully by herself, she separated herself slightly from all of the attention, and said to the patiently waiting group,

"If you don't mind, I think I will go take a short walk in the corridor." She was slightly disoriented by the general, large interest in her welfare, and was also too stubborn to accept help for such a simple thing as sitting down.

"I'll go with 'ya," Trip added, standing up. He figured that he wouldn't be needed in the trade discussions, and a walk with T'Pol could be interesting. He also wasn't feeling too social right now, and wanted to get away from the group of people. He felt slightly proud of himself, keeping himself together so well for so long on this trip. It was still hard being sociable because of the grief. T'Pol nodded in acceptance of his coming, smoother out her robe slightly, and headed for the door with Trip close behind in case she needed support.

T'Pol had been having some pain in her back since the previous night, so she had been feeling slightly uncomfortable. It had mostly gone away when she was walking on the tour, so she thought that another small walk might help also. So she and Trip went out the door of the room, turned right and started down the corridor. She thought it was an appealingly designed building – there was a basically circular corridor that began and ended at the front door, and all of the rooms came off of said corridor. The building was made of a soft gray colored material, and that along with the fact that the innermost wall of the corridor was glass, looking into a small, private and open-topped courtyard, made the lighting natural yet bright.

When the Doctor had cleared her for the trip to the planet, T'Pol had to admit she was slightly surprised. After all, she was a little over seven months pregnant, and between a half a month and a month from being full term. She was glad she'd come, however, because the relations between the two species had grown quite a bit from this excursion, and the trade agreement looked like it might be promising.

At her 'checkup' she had almost asked the Doctor for some pain medication for her back, but she felt, illogically, that if she admitted to having pain the Doctor would not let her come on this important trip. She sort of regretted that decision now, because walking wasn't helping very much anymore. The pain had moved lower, too, almost like cramps… As soon as she thought that, something clicked, and what she realized scared her. She was going into labor. Early. On an alien planet, with Phlox not around. She hoped to Surak that T'Kez was all right, and that the early labor was actually not early at all, just an inaccurate guess from Phlox. That was probably what it was, she reasoned. It made perfect sense that way, because there was no true was to know how long a Human-Vulcan pregnancy would be, and Phlox probably also added a little time onto that because first children are usually late. It could even be false labor.

Now that the initial shock had worn off, she wasn't quite as panicked. She figured that she still had some time until her water broke and she went into full labor. Boy, was she ever wrong.

As they continued walking, Trip noticed that her pace slowed a bit. Thinking she was getting tired, he motioned to a bench a little ways ahead, and asked, "Do you want to sit down for a minute?" But she shook her head and answered,

"No, I can keep walking." It was helping the pain a little more now, and she didn't want to turn back yet. Somewhere in her subconscious she knew she was acting stubbornly, but for some reason she suddenly felt as if she couldn't show any weakness in front of the Commander.

She took two more steps, and the pain increased exponentially. It was so sudden she faltered obviously in her walking, and quickly headed for the bench, mumbling, "I want to sit down now."

"Are you okay?" Trip asked her, a look of worry on his face as he sat down beside her. He was ignoring what she'd mumbled, and she was glad for it. T'Pol concentrated on breathing deeply for a moment, then replied,

"Thank you, Commander."

"No problem," he responded, smiling a little and shaking his head. The pair just continued to sit there, T'Pol quietly concentrating on her breathing and Trip wondering to himself what happened. Then, seven minutes after the first one, a second contraction came. T'Pol inhaled suddenly and closed her eyes, trying to control the pain. That got Trip's attention, and he quickly asked again, "T'Pol, are you sure you're okay?"

A few seconds later she was able to reply, slightly raspy, "Yes."

By the third contraction, T'Pol was using some of her meditation techniques to take away the pain. She knew that she needed to get to a doctor to make sure everything was alright, but at that moment she wasn't able to think about how. Then her water broke.

With water running down the side of her leg, she said to Trip in a no-nonsense, short voice, "Trip, go get a doctor." Her use of his first name got his attention, but he still looked at her quizzically until she continued. "I'm in labor."

If she had been anyone else, in any other situation, she would have died laughing from Trip's expression. Once he'd processed what she'd said, his eyes widened until she thought they'd fall out of their sockets, except for the fact that she knew it was scientifically impossible. Also, his jaw had gone slack, so he looked really long-faced, and his mouth popped open a little bit as if to stutter incomprehensibly "Uhhh…" One would almost think that Trip was the father-to-be, not the father's best friend who had just fallen into a very unexpected situation. He did, however, regain his senses after a moment of shock and quickly said, "Stay right there" as he stood up and darted off to find help. As he quickly retraced their steps, he gained a new admiration for the Sub-Commander: '_Those were contractions?! Whoah, talk about pain tolerance and control!'_

While Trip was racing to get help, one thought went through T'Pol's mind: '_Jonathan!'_

While all this had been happening, important negotiations were taking place. "Here is out list of items we have to trade," said Jon as he handed Durse a PADD. Jon watched the Reckau look through his potential choices, anxiously waiting to see whether they would be sufficient.

"I am very interested in your deuterium supply and certainly would not mind having some of your kilex. I'm afraid, however, that will only go so far." Evidently T'Pol's influence was only so great. Jon was just glad that they had plenty of the hydrogen isotope and the local money. "What species were you curious about again?"

He hesitated for a moment, deciding how much to reveal, then concluded that he need to use all of his cards if he were to win this round, or at least tie the dealer. "The Xindi," he said.

"Oh, yes, the Xindi. They are very appreciative of fine trading, especially in the navigational and power reserve fields."

"How might we be able to afford this information? We need data on their tactical systems, and coordinates of their planet." Jon queried, urged on by the Prime Ministers data tease. He felt something from T'Pol, which made him pause momentarily, but he couldn't place it, so he assumed it wasn't that important and refocused his attention on the trading deal.

The Par-Grand could feel things starting to tense into a deadlock, so he interrupted with a carefully worded statement to dissuade that from happening. "Prime Minister, it seems unusual to me that such a profitable trading species like yours has customs that honor the non-material, like for the expecting mother. I would think that most species in your business would be less civilized in their customs and only be concerned with money and profit… I underestimated you."

The sudden input from the Sithian worked better than expected – both Durse and Jon looked at him, completely forgetting their debate. There were quite a few moments of silence as Durse pieced through Isces's statement and his intonations to determine whether it was a compliment or not. Before he could decide, however, Jon suddenly jumped up from his seat in alarm.

'_T'Pol!'_ his mind screamed in response to her desperate thought. Right before anyone could ask him what happened, Trip rushed through the door and half-panted,

"T'Pol's in labor!"

Everyone in the room stood up and rushed out the door to go help her. Durse went into another room to contact a doctor, and then continued on to the bench where T'Pol was sitting. Jon had come up beside her and was holding her hand reassuringly and talking to her. Durse walked up, through the semicircle that had formed a few feet away from the bench. He looked toward the entrance of the building, as if he were waiting for something, and said, "Medical assistance is on its way."

Jon realized what he was saying and looked up at Durse, then back at T'Pol quickly. "No…" he started. "We need to get back to Enterprise. Our doctor will know what to do." Jon could tell that Durse wasn't particularly pleased with his guest's comment, but Jon didn't really care about that at this particular moment. His duty as a father came before his duty as a diplomat.

T'Pol shook her head, surprising both of the men, and said, "No, Jonathan. I want my child to have a home world. He shouldn't be born in space – we're staying here." T'Pol could see Durse's newly smiling face and knew she'd made the right decision for the reason she mentioned as well as for the trade agreement.

"Okay," Jon replied slowly. "But I'm going to call Phlox and get him down here." A few seconds later two Reckaux with the equivalent of a wheelchair came through the door, and as soon as T'Pol was seated comfortably, she was moved outside and into another building. Once they got there, T'Pol, Jon, and Durse went into the birthing room that was being prepped. The rest of the group was told to sit in a waiting room a few meters away. After he helped to get T'Pol settled and held her hand through another contraction, Jon stepped outside the room to comm. Phlox. He moved over to a more private corner and contacted Enterprise.

"Archer to Phlox."

"Yes, Captain?" the Doctor replied, surprised to hear from him.

"You need to get down here, and quickly," Jon said, with an apparent urgency in his voice.

"What? Captain, slow down and start from the beginning. Why am I needed on the planet?" Phlox asked. He was confused, but becoming anxious about what had the Captain so worried.

Taking a deep breath, Jon replied, "T'Pol's in labor."

"This soon? Is everything alright?"

"That's what you're coming down here to determine. She seems fine, but I don't want to have her go through this without your expertise to help guide the other doctors. They've never even seen a Vulcan before!" Okay, so he didn't really know if that were true. He needed to get the Doc down here, though, and if it took a little exaggeration…

The Doctor, however, was calm enough to not take this information at face value and instead focused on other things. "How will I get there?" he asked. "You took both shuttlepods." With a sinking feeling, Jon realized it was true. "I'm sure they have exceptional doctors on the planet, Captain. You'll be fine."

'_Wait, the transporter!'_ Archer thought. When he suggested it to Phlox, though, the Doctor was skeptical.

"Won't the clouds interfere with the transmission?" Phlox asked. When he heard Jon's big, slightly defeated sigh, he knew he had to do something. "How far apart are her contractions? And how many centimeters if she dilated? Then I can tell how long we have."

"What if something's wrong, though? We won't be able to help…" Phlox felt that Jon was panicking himself, so he gave Archer an educated guess as to why the birth came earlier than expected. Hopefully it wouldn't turn out to be incorrect.

"I believe that the early labor is nothing to worry about, Captain. T'Pol's body is probably just pressuring her to give birth at a more Vulcan time than a human one. By Vulcan standards, the child is already a week or two late. So as long as their heartbeats are normal, and there's no sign of trauma or extreme prematurity, they both should be fine. It would help if you got me those readings, though."

More reassured, Jon closed the comm. connection for a minute while he told T'Pol what Phlox had said and got the information. It took a little longer than expected because there was a slight problem with converting to or measuring in centimeters, but the Reckaux doctors figured it out.

"Doc," he said when he recontacted Phlox. "She's six and a half centimeters dilated, and the contractions are six minutes apart."

"Okay, she should have some time until she feels the need to push." Jon heard some clinking a rustling from the other side of the comm., and then Phlox continued speaking, sounding slightly reluctant. "I am gathering some equipment and am going to go to the transporter."

"We need you down here, Doctor. Both of us, especially T'Pol, would be much more reassured if you were leading the birthing."

"I guess it's good to have job security," Phlox commented. There was about a twenty second pause as Jon heard the Doctor walk to the transporter, which luckily was on the same deck as sickbay, and heard him converse with the officer there. "Crewman Teage says to send the coordinates of right outside the building. Evidently the dust clouds in the atmosphere shift frequently enough that finding a clear spot shouldn't take too long. I'll be planet side soon."

* * *

"Breathe, T'Pol, breathe," Phlox urged from the bottom of the birthing bed. He had a mask and a medical gown on, as did everyone else in the room. Trip, Hoshi, and the other crewmen had visited T'Pol and Jon briefly during the first of the three hours since Phlox had been down on the planet, but they were later all shooed out into the waiting room until the baby was born. Every once in a while Jon could see them pacing through the thin strip of window in the door. Right now, though, T'Pol was having another contraction – they were now less than two minutes apart, and getting closer every time. "You're fully dilated," he told her. "Anytime you want to push now is fine."

T'Pol just took a few deeps breaths, not able to respond. All she had been able to send to Jonathan for a while was, '_It hurts!'_ He was sitting in a chair by her side, helping her deal with the pain and trying to share some of it.

"Almost there T'Pol. Just a few more," Jon said comfortingly. She just looked at him, and he could see the exhaustion in her eyes as well as feel it through their bond. '_You can do it. Just a few more.'_ He reiterated in thought. One of the Reckau doctors in the room finished prepping the standing medical bassinet and rolled it to the right of the bed.

When, thirty seconds later, another contraction came, Phlox said, "Push now, T'Pol!" She gave a long grunt as she pushed as hard as she could for ten seconds, and then rested slightly as the contraction subsided. "That was good," Phlox added. "Next time, even more! He's moving through the birth canal nicely."

'_I can't,'_ she sent to Jonathan. He smiled a little, wiped the sweat from her brow and pointed to the bassinet.

'_See that?'_ he sent her, concentrating hard. '_That is why you can push. To see our child. You can do it – we're both counting on you.'_ He could feel through their link that another contraction was coming on, so he kissed her check lightly and squeezed her left hand in reassurance. T'Pol, though, stared straight at that bassinet to her right. As the pain gripped her and she closed her eyes in pain, Jonathan could feel the determination and stubbornness building up in her. Looking at the bassinet once more, she pushed with all her might.

Through the bright light she felt in her eyes from the pain, she heard the Doctor say excitedly, "One more and he's out! He's almost crowned. One more hard push."

They didn't have to wait long. T'Pol stared at the bassinet as if it were her mortal enemy she had to defeat, then looked up at the ceiling. She squeezed Jonathan's hand, hard, and as she pushed harder and harder, willing it to be over, a blindingly bright white light came over her eyes and she couldn't see anything anymore, she just pushed. Jonathan could feel the light too, and their minds seemed as one when the blinding light build up even more, flashed, and whitened everything in their view for a second. As both of their sights returned to normal, they heard a short, repetitive wail. It got increasingly louder, and they realized it was their son taking his first breaths. T'Pol had no doubt that it was all worth it as she heard her sons first screams. '_The first of _many' she thought, smiling and swelling with pride. Jon stood up and numbly walked over to where Phlox was holding their son, awestruck by how beautiful such a small thing could be. He was having a hard time smiling because his mouth was contorting from the excess of love he was feeling. Tears of joy were also starting to run from his eyes, but as Phlox handed him the scissors to cut the umbilical cord, his smile became the brightest it had ever been in his life.

"It's a boy!" Phlox said rhetorically. He carefully handed the crying, newly born babe to the Reckaux doctors who were waiting, and they cleaned him up and wrapped him in a towel as Phlox delivered the afterbirth. Jon watchfully hovered right behind them, unable to stop himself. When they finally handed Jon his son, time seemed to stop. Holding his son in his arms, Jon felt a sudden whomp from the shock leaving him and a myriad of emotions taking over. There were too many feelings to think about or name. All Jon knew was that he was the happiest he'd ever been in his life, especially when he brought his son over to T'Pol who reached out for him and started tearing up herself. As soon as his mother touched him, their son stopped crying. Phlox saw that they needed moment alone and motioned for the other doctors to go out. He was following them out when Jon called out and said,

"Thanks Doc." Phlox turned around and smiled. What he saw was the perfect picture of a family, with T'Pol holding their son close and Jon leaning down to get closer to them both. As he was shutting the door, he heard,

"Tell the others his name is T'Kez Henry Archer."

Once the door was completely shut and they were alone, Jon bent down a little lower and kissed T'Pol lovingly on the lips. As a cheer resounded from the waiting room outsite, they just stared into each other's eyes, unbelievably happy. Jon looked down at T'Kez and wrinkled his brow a little while smiling, noticing something he hadn't before. Curious, T'Pol looked too, and when their eyes met a second later, they were both half-grinning.

T'Kez had pointed ears.

* * *

An hour and a half later, the whole family was exhausted. They'd had so many guests – many of them Reckaux. Hoshi had just been able to get in to see them ten minutes earlier, and as she left Trip poked his head through the door, smiling a little.

"Got enough energy left for one more visitor?" He said.

"For you Trip, sure," Jon replied. Trip made a note to himself not to stay too long, though. Jon, and T'Pol especially, did look tired.

"How big is he?" Trip asked as he slipped into the room and closed the door. He stayed back from the bed where the three of them were, feeling like a 'fourth wheel' and not wanting to intrude.

"Seven pounds, eight ounces," T'Pol responded, looking up at him from T'Kez. Trip had never seen her look so happy. He thought it was appropriate that T'Pol's child was an even seven and a half pounds.

Jon motioned his best friend over, asking, "Don't you want to see him?" So Trip went over to the bed and peered into the bassinet, where T'Kez was now sleeping peacefully after his first meal twenty minutes ago. Trip cautiously reached a hand out and stroked T'Kez's cheek a little.

"He's beautiful," Trip remarked. Then he looked closer at him and turned back to the proud parents. They both guessed what he was going to comment about – the ears – but Trip surprised them. "He's got a head full of black fuzz for hair, you know that?" Then, half-chuckling, he commented to himself again, "Fuzz…"

"Trip…" Jon started, then got a partially indignant look from T'Pol as she learned through their bond what he was thinking about saying. Jonathan just looked back at her and thought back seriously, '_It'll be good for him. And I wouldn't have it be any other person.'_

"Yeah?" Trip replied, slightly lost in the verbal silence.

"Would you be T'Kez's godfather?" Trip stood there in stunned silence for moment, and then replied,

"I'd love to, Jon. Actually, I'd be honored to." His mouth curved into a real smile now; he had a new person to dote on and love. T'Kez wouldn't be able to fill Elizabeth's hole, but he could certainly patch up the loneliness and loss of need he'd been feeling. As Trip, newly anointed godfather of the first ever Human and Vulcan child, exited the room, he turned around and said, "Oh, by the way, Durse has a tape of the birth he wants to give you, and he also said that our deuterium supply would be plenty for the coordinates and information. I'll finalize the details, okay?" Jon nodded, thanking Trip through his eyes. The other man caught the Captain's gaze, and smiled. "'Bye T'Pol, Jon… Fuzz."

T'Pol mentally groaned, and Jon just chuckled. They both knew their son had just received his first nickname. Jon sat down on the edge of T'Pol's bed and pulled the rolling bassinet closer while putting an arm around T'Pol. As the two new parents followed their son's lead and drifted asleep after an exciting and exhausting day, they knew they had just taken the first step into their new life. Though there would certainly be many challenges, some of them painful, they both knew that their loving family, along with supportive friends and crewmen, could tackle those challenges.

End (of stage two)

Cont…


End file.
